Daddy's Little Firefly
by Shadowgirl00
Summary: It is only when one life ends... do two lives begin... Chapter 19 is up!
1. Hotaru Tomoe No Longer

Hotaru Tomoe No Longer

It was one of those bright sunny days in Tokyo and yet Hotaru had this feeling of dark foreboding. She didn't know why she got this feeling, she just did. Maybe it was because the scouts hadn't fought anyone for several years, or maybe it was because Hotaru was feeling depressed. Hidden in the shadows of the school building Hotaru was watching as children her own age played as parents, aunts or uncles came to pick them up. Still she couldn't understand it. After all she had parents too, even if they were her own fellow scouts. Haruka-papa and Michiru-mama were very good to her. They were her parents along with Setsuna. Yet… as Hotaru reached back into her mind, about her original father and mother, her role as Sailor Saturn, and her powers Hotaru just felt like something was missing. The Outers were her parents and yet… A part of her wished she could reclaim the childhood that was lost to her through accidents and duty.

"Hotaru!"

Hotaru snapped out of her thoughts, and looking towards the voice, "Setsuna-mama!"

The Guardian of Time was hiding in the shadows of a tree, but Hotaru could make her out. Setsuna's dark green hair was in disarray and her sailor outfit torn. Something had gone wrong it was deathly clear. Hotaru ran towards Setsuna.

"What happened?" she asked.

Pluto was leaning on her staff, "Monster… in the park… scouts need… help."

Hotaru's eyes grew wide, "How about you? You need-"

Pluto shook her head, "No… you must go… now!"

Hotaru didn't need to be told twice, "Saturn Star Power!"

Before long she was off to the park. When she got there, the scouts were badly beaten. Sailor Mercury was protecting a fallen Sailor Mars. Sailor Moon was trying to help Tuxedo Mask and protect Chibi Moon who was badly hurt. Sailor Neptune and Uranus were attacking the monster with everything they had. Venus and Jupiter were knocked out.

Hotaru ran to Chibi Moon's side, "Chibi-Usa, talk to me," she knelt before her friend.

Chibi Moon turned her head, "I'll be okay."

"Good, stay still while I heal you," Hotaru ordered.

"Ahhhh!"

Everyone turned to where the screamed came from to see Neptune's crumpled form.

"Michiru-mama!"

"Neptune!" Uranus yelled.

Uranus turned to help, only to get knocked into a wall by one of the creature's tentacles.

"Or roots," Hotaru thought, "That thing looks like a demented bush. If I don't do something soon everyone will die. Even with the Outers and Inners that thing isn't dead."

Sailor Moon gasped, "Oh no! Nearly everyone is gone. I need to do something!"

Usagi didn't get to do that something. As far as Hotaru was considered it was her turn to do something. Even if that something would cost her, her life.

"Stop right there!" Saturn shouted.

The thing turned, "And what are you going to do about it little girl?"

She stepped away from the other scouts, getting as close to the monster as possible. Hotaru pointed her glaive at it, "I am Sailor Saturn, the Silent Messiah. I'm not going to let you hurt my family or my friends!"

"Is that so? Give it your best shot," the creature sneered.

"Death Ribbon Revolution!"

Dark ribbons of lightening came racing towards it. The monster howled in pain and glared at Hotaru angrily. It lashed out with its root-like tentacles. Hotaru moved out of the way as one of the roots embedded itself in the ground where Hotaru had stood.

"You hurt me! How dare you hurt me!" it yelled in rage.

Once more it sent tried to whack Hotaru into a wall or crush her into the ground. The other scouts tried to help, but they either got knocked out of the way or were to badly hurt to move. Hotaru herself was barely moving out of the way.

"Death Ribbon Revolution!" Hotaru yelled out again, she thought silently to herself, "Its hurting the thing, but its not dead! It should be dead!"

Finally one of its tentacles swept Hotaru off her feet, while another one grabbed her. It slowly squeezed the breath out of Sailor Saturn.

It smirked, "My master will be very pleased."

Hotaru gasped, "I don't know who your master is, but I'll send this warning to your master!" She raised her glaive above her head.

Sailor Moon tried once more to get to her feet, "Hotaru no!"

Michiru had woken up, she cried out, "HOTARU!"

"Silent Glaive Surprise!"

There was an explosion of purple light and a crater stood where Hotaru and the monster was suppose to be. Haruka stared in disbelief at what had happen. Neptune was crying on her shoulder.

Chibi Moon looked at Sailor Moon and in a small voice she asked, "She'll be back won't she? Just like last time. Right?"

"I don't know… I don't know…" Usagi murmured.

~Three Weeks Later~

The Sailor Scouts were having their usual meeting at Rei's temple, but no one was talking. It had been three weeks and still no one had gotten over Hotaru's death. Many had expected her to return in a form of a baby. A week pasted and then another, and still no sign of her. She wasn't coming back and they would have to accept that. It wasn't until a good time later that Rei noticed that Setsuna was at the door.

"Setsuna! What brings you here?" Rei asked.

Setsuna smiled softly, "News, I was meaning to tell you after the battle, but all of you were injured so badly that I thought it was best to wait."

Haruka nodded, "So, what is it?"

"Hotaru is a baby again, but I have hidden her."

"What?" Makoto stood up, "Why did you do that?"

Michiru nodded, "Yes, why hide her?"

Setsuna's smile was replaced with a soft frown, "She has shown to our unknown foe that she is a great threat. If she comes back as a baby, they will surely kill her. I'm proposing that you let me send her to another dimension."

Now it was Usagi's turn to frown, "But Setsuna, if you do that and then take Hotaru away, won't the parents looking after her be heartbroken?"

"The person I have chosen will think of this only as a mission. There is nothing to worry about," Setsuna reassured them.

Usagi nodded, "Do it, I won't have anyone else die."

Ami smiled, "Yes, it is necessary."

"I hope you know what you're doing," Rei murmured.

Chibi-Usa smiled, "We can watch her sometimes can't we?"

"Everyday if you want," Setsuna answered.

Minako sighed, "We don't have a choice."

"I hate this too, but I have to say yes," Makoto said.

Slowly both Haruka and Michiru nodded, but they didn't say anything.

"Then it is settled, I will send her immediately." 


	2. The Arrival of Hotaru Yuy

The Arrival of Hotaru Yuy

In the home of the famous Gundam pilots everyone was busy. The war had ended a long time ago, and there had been no need for Gundams. The five ex-pilots still lived together. They were all either full or part-time Preventers. Currently Quatre was out attending a meeting that day and said he wouldn't be back until around noon. Duo was out on a date with Hilde no less. The circus was in town and Trowa had decided to visit his sister Catherine. Wufei was out on a mission with Sally. This left Heero alone in the house typing away on his laptop. Heero hadn't changed much since the war. He still didn't talk much and was protecting Relena without her knowing it. Suddenly there was a beep on his laptop saying there was a message for him. It read:

Heero, I am giving you a mission of great importance and as a favor to a colleague of mine. I cannot give you the full details of the mission at this time. Your mission will come to you, along with a note explaining what is to be done. You must carry out the mission at all costs.

Heero read the note several times before deleting it, uttering his famous line, "Mission Accepted."

Just as he closed his laptop the doorbell rang. He got up from his seat and opened the door. No one was there. Then, out of sheer whim he looked down. There before him was a basket covered with a lavender blanket. There was a note sticking out. It read:

Dear Heero Yuy,

I am the colleague that Dr. J spoke of. My name is of no importance. Your mission is to raise this child and pretend that she is your daughter. Whatever background information you want to give her is up to you. You are to raise her until she reaches the age of twelve at that time I will come to take her back. Her name will be Hotaru Yuy.

Heero was dumbstruck at what he was reading. Without even thinking about it he just sat down beside the basket. How was he going to look after a baby? A child for twelve years? He didn't know the first thing about looking after a baby. He pulled back the blanket to reveal a dark, purple-haired child. She smiled as she looked up at Heero. The winding was blowing hard that day. The baby slivered as the wind passed. There was no point for both of them to freeze out there. Without a word Heero picked up the basket and took it inside. Once inside he set the basket on the kitchen table. Suddenly she started to cry and fuss. Heero blinked and tried to ignore her, but the longer he ignored her the louder she cried. Finally he couldn't take it anymore. Peering over into the basket he wondered what he was going to do with her. She wasn't like Duo, whom all you had to do was point a gun at him and he'll shut up. Besides babies didn't know about guns. Gingerly and unsure of himself, Heero picked her up. As suddenly as she started crying she stopped. Looking up at Heero she giggled. Now that he had a good look at her, he could see that Hotaru had large, dark purple eyes and equally dark purple hair that it would have been mistaken for black. Her skin was in contrast with her hair was pale. As much as Heero hated to admit it, he needed help raising Hotaru. The question was whom would he go to? Who ever it would have to be, it would have to be female. He couldn't go to Hilde because she was out with Duo. Sally was on a mission with Wufei. Noin was away on a mission with Milliardo. Catherine would only be staying a few weeks at the most, and he be damned if he asked the help of that psychotic lady Dorothy. He could ask the help of Lady Une since she was looking after a child herself, but she was probably busy with Preventer's work. This left one other person, Relena. Sighing to himself, carefully balancing the baby in one arm he reached for the phone.

"Hello, this is the Peacecraft residence."

"May I speak to Relena please," Heero cupped the phone between his ear and shoulder.

"One moment."

"Hello? Relena speaking."

"Relena this is Heero," Heero tried to shifted the baby into a different position.

"Heero! What a surprise, is something wrong? You don't normally call."

"I need you over here," Heero told her.

"Why?"

"Now," Heero was in no mood to explain himself.

"Okay, I'll be there in twenty minutes."

After Heero hung up the phone he looked down at Hotaru. Hotaru was busy occupying her time blowing bubbles with her saliva. Eventually some of the saliva would drip down her lips and on to her blanket. Heero sighed again, grabbing a towel to clean it up. She giggled.

"You do find everything funny don't you?" he asked.

She didn't answer him; instead she reached up with her cubby fists as if to grab something unknown. At that moment the doorbell rang, Heero went to get it.

Relena smiled, "Hi Heero! I'm here, what did you-"

She was looking at Heero and then at the baby in his arms.

Relena stared at Heero and the baby and then to the note he gave her in amazement. It wasn't just a baby had arrived at Heero's doorstep or that he was being asked to take care of the child. It was that he asked **her** for help. That wasn't the only thing that was posing a problem. In the last four hours or so the small babe no longer fit her basket. In fact now that she thought of it, the baby no longer fit her clothes. Heero was staring at the baby in shock, so was Relena.

"She's growing fast. What did those scientists do to her?" Relena thought.

"I wonder what the scientists did to her," Heero asked Relena's silent question.

Relena sighed, "Whatever they did, it we might have to get her a lot of things."

Heero nods, though he didn't like the idea of going shopping, even if it was for a good cause. Before he knew it he was being dragged, baby and all towards the nearest shopping mall. So there he was, the Perfect Soldier, riding in a car with Relena driving and telling him the basics of childcare. When they arrived at the mall, Relena insisted the first thing they do was find new clothes for her. The first place they looked was a shop called Little Tots, which sold clothes. Relena picked out white, yellow and pink dresses, jumpers with stars, and bunnies on them and of course little booties. All of which were just a bit bigger than Hotaru just in case. This left Heero holding baby Hotaru, while every lady there came up and asked about **his** daughter. Of course Heero got some say in the kind of clothes Hotaru wore. Relena refused to get anything dark for Hotaru, though Heero would say it. In his opinion, Hotaru seemed to be made for dark clothes. When they paid for the clothes the saleslady smiled at Heero, "It's so nice to see the father taking interest like that," she then whispered to Relena, "You are one lucky wife to find a husband like this young man."

Relena blushed and stammered, "Uh… thank you, but she-"

"Is the pretties baby I've ever seen," the saleslady buts in.

Heero tried not to roll his eyes; it was no doubt that Duo would have found this funny to the boot. Next stop was the toy store where Relena had told Heero earlier that Hotaru needed toys. Besides where else would you get a baby carriage, car seat and diapers?

While Relena went off to get the necessities for the baby Heero went to check out the toy section with Hotaru. They passed a long line of stuff toys. Hotaru was just sucking her thumb while Heero checked it out. The little baby woke to see Heero looking at a row of stuff cats. She feebly reached out towards to small gray cat.

"Uh… uh…" she reached towards it.

Heero looked at her, "So you want that one huh?"

He took the cat off the shelf and gave it to her. Heero didn't see anything wrong with that Relena did say that kids needed toys. He only hoped that she didn't grow out of her toys as fast as she will grows out of her clothes. He looked around the store, wondering silently to himself. What kind of toys do you get a baby? Well, Hotaru was a girl, so girls should have more than one stuff animal. Maybe a teddy bear? Or maybe a doll. He looked at Hotaru; she was too young for dolls.

"Then again, she might not stay little for long," Heero thought to himself.

He strolled over to the doll section. It surprised him how many dolls there were. There was a really nice doll with black hair and dark skin. It seemed though that Hotaru had other ideas. She reached over to where one lady doll stood. She had very long blond hair and blue eyes and was dressed in a white gown.

"That doll? Okay…" he picked that one out.

Baby Hotaru smiled out up at him.

After picking out some more toys Heero went to look for Relena. He could have sworn though that Hotaru made most of the choices when it came to the toys. Relena was over by the checking counter. She waved at him to come over.

She smiled, "Heero, I had no idea you knew what kind of toys she could like. This stuff is perfect."

Heero shrugged, "Whatever Hotaru reached for, I took."

By the time they left the mall, they had clothes that would fit a baby to a 12-month-old child. They also left with three different stuff cats, three dolls, one teddy bear, one nightlight, diapers, bottles, baby wipes, teething ring, baby power, baby formula, baby food and a stroller. Heero opened the door, expecting Duo to come running at him. To his surprise there was no one home. There was a note from Quatre on the counter.

Hi Heero,

It seems that I have a business meeting in the Colonies so I won't be back for a couple of weeks. Duo said that he and Hilde are going to take off for a while. It's just going to be the two of them. Trowa came in earlier to get some of his stuff. It seems that the clown for Catherine's act just walked out. So he's going to stay and help till they find a replacement, or until the circus leaves. Wufei called and said he has to go on another mission with Sally, and even then he's going to stay at the Preventer's HQ because there's a lot of paperwork. I guess that means you have the house to yourself. See you later.

Quatre

Heero couldn't believe his luck. He was going to be stuck with the baby for a couple of weeks. Relena sighed, "That's really bad timing."

"Hn, I'll just take care of her by myself, besides it's my mission."

"Oh no you aren't!" Relena turned to Heero, "I'm staying here with you!"

"You can't," Heero stated.

"I'm not leaving that girl with you. Heero have you ever taken care of a child before?"

"Have you?" Heero asked.

Relena shook her head, "No, but-"

"I'll be perfectly fine," Heero answered back.

Relena said dryly, "I fear what she'll be like under your care. For all I know, she'll be a trigger happy manic like you!"

"We will be fine," Heero stated.

Hotaru picked that moment to spit up all over Heero whom was holding her. Both of them looked at Heero's shirt, covered with white spit. The baby giggled, clapping her hands joyfully together.

Relena raised a brow, "I rest my case."

And so Relena packed up and stayed with Heero. Meanwhile for the next few days, Hotaru gave the term growing like a weed a whole new meaning. In three days she had already grown out of a large portion of her clothes. She also was already able to crawl. Hotaru got into everything. That was soon discovered when Heero went into the hanger that use to hold the Gundams. The hanger now held cars, jeeps and motorcycles. He was fixing one particular car that Duo had banged up. As he finished up, he heard this strange cooing sound.

"That's strange," he thought to himself, "There's no one here."

Giggle.

Heero blinked and craned his neck to look up at the catwalks. His eyes widen as he saw Hotaru waving at him up from the catwalks. She was dangerously near the edge as she sat waving happyily at him.

"Hotaru!" he ran towards the nearest stair.

She giggled and clapped, bouncing up and down.

"Stay there!" he dashed up the stairs.

Hotaru got off her butt and started crawling away in the other direction.

Had Relena been there she would have scold Heero for swearing as he did, not that she would have known. The good majority of the swearing was not in English. Hotaru was at the other end of the catwalk. One arm stuck up as she was about the go down the stairs. In good time Heero was at her side and scooped her up. He gave her his famous I-Will-Kill-You glare. She just giggled and snuggled into his chest. After that incident Heero had to go back to the mall to get fences for the stairs, hanger and weapons room. There was a time Heero had actually chained Hotaru to his working desk, but when Relena found out she threw a fit. It was also clear that Relena had a lot of motherly instincts for she took the role of mother very quickly. By day Relena would be working on keeping the peace while still worry about the baby. By night Relena would be singing the baby to sleep. Heero was different, but his lifestyle had to change to suit the baby's needs. If he didn't the little 'hell spawn' as he put it one night would wreck everything. He could be found typing on his laptop with one hand, and bouncing a baby who was playing with his other hand on his lap. It was the only way to keep Hotaru from playing with the keyboard.

As usual Heero was typing on the laptop with Hotaru on his lap. She looked up at him with wide dark eyes. Heero and the other pilots were keeping in touch. Though Heero had never told the others about Hotaru. They were having their daily chat in the chatroom.

Desert Noble: How has everyone been doing?

God of Death: Fine over here! Hilde says hi.

Lone Dragon: Mission is going well.

Silencer: Catherine is having trouble looking for a new clown.

Perfect Soldier: Fjine.

God of Death: Hey Heero! The Perfect Soldier is losing his touch.

Perfect Soldier: It's jbust fine.

God of Death: Right… You've gone soft.

Perfect Soldier: I wiyll kdill you!

Lone Dragon: What's going on over there Yuy?

Perfect Soldier: Notkhing 

Heero grabbed Hotaru's hands, "Stop that!"

Hotaru looked up at him, "Da da?"

"What…"

"Da da!" she giggled.

He shook his head and gave her, her doll, "Right."

Heero went back to assuring his friends that everything was all right. Still he couldn't shake this feeling of pride in his chest, which was blooming for no reason.


	3. Making a Past

To Make a Past

It was one thing to go through the joys of fatherhood for the first time, and another to take on a mission which involves taking care of a child. Not only that, but Hotaru wasn't really normal. Within three days of Heero receiving her she learned to crawl and was starting to stand up. There wasn't going to be a lot of baby moments to remember. Still if someone like Duo was around, one would have to admit, seeing the Perfect Soldier looking after a baby was funny and heartwarming.

"Hold still," Heero was trying to bath a squirming Hotaru.

"Uh. Uh. Uh…" Hotaru tried to get out of Heero's grip.

Heero was bathing Hotaru for the first time. Normally it was Relena who bath the little girl, but Relena had to go to an emergency meeting, leaving Heero and Hotaru alone together. So far Heero's arm was wrapped around Hotaru's waist as he tried to wash her hair. Waving her arms wildly and kicking furiously Hotaru was splashing water everywhere. For the past several minutes Heero had managed to get soap everywhere but on Hotaru's head. His tank top was now soaked with water and his arms were covered with soap.

Heero muttered to himself, "Why is it so hard to raise a baby?"

Hotaru pushed water towards Heero. SPLASH!

Heero glared at Hotaru for the fifth time that day. His dark brown hair was damp and water was dripping from his bangs. Unfortunately it seemed that babies were immune to death-glares. Hotaru just looked at him and laughed. She held her arms out to him as if saying 'Pick me up! Pick me up!' Leaving the bathroom with Hotaru, Heero grabbed a towel on the way out. Though from the looks of it the towel would be more for Heero than it would be for Hotaru. She giggled, laughed and squealed as Heero dried her off. He sighed to himself, what was it about this baby that found nearly everything so damn funny? Heero dressed her, and combed her hair while Hotaru was trying to grab the brush. Finishing up with her, Heero just left her on the couch to work at his desk nearby.

As he was typing on his laptop Heero thought about all of the problems Hotaru was going to cause. Not only did she start to crawl, but also Hotaru graduated from liquids to baby food. Pinching the bridge of his nose Heero also had work to worry about. Since the war ended Heero had joined the Preventers. Most of the time he worked at home, but sooner or later he was going to be called in. Then what was he going to do? He couldn't say that baby wasn't his, because she was supposed to be his! Speaking of which, as Heero opened another file, he still needed to make up Hotaru's background.

Name: Hotaru Yuy

Age: _

Heero looked over his shoulder. If Hotaru was aging at the rate she was at, age would be impossible. Hotaru was happily playing with a white stuff cat and a black stuff cat that was left on the couch. He would just have to update it every time she got older. He decided to make her older than she really was; after all she was going to be that old anyways.

Age: 11 months

Date of Birth: _

"Da da?" Hotaru watched Heero with fascination.

Heero grunted, "Hn."

Hotaru giggled, "Da da!" she reached out for him.

Heero sighed as he got up, "To problem with you is that I can't kill you," picking her up he looked at her in the eye, "Maybe I should kill Dr. J instead?" he blinked, "I don't believe it, I'm talking to a baby."

Hotaru blew more bubbles with her saliva.

"Great Yuy, you're talking to a baby," he muttered to himself, "Thank god no one's hear to listen to me."

Both he and Hotaru sat back down at his desk. He thought for a minute, he had written that she was eleven months old, so that meant her birthday was next month. He mentally hit himself; he had just given the girl a birthday in October. The havoc Duo would wreak to have Hotaru's birthday and Halloween so close to each other.

"Baka, baka…" he muttered to himself as Hotaru played with his fingers, he started typing again.

Age: 10 ½

Date of Birth: December 12, 201 AC

Place of Birth: Sank Kingdom, St. Peter's Hospital

Parents: _

He stopped, Heero couldn't just write down his name could he? He could, but that would raise questions. As he looked down at the girl, who was looking up at him with a big smile he wondered. She didn't look a thing like him and people would wonder who the mother was.

"I'd never thought I would have so much trouble," Heero murmured as he absently took the black cat that Hotaru gave him. He looked down at his hand realizing what he just did.

Hotaru snuggled against him murmuring, "Da da, na da."

He sighed.

Parents: Natalie and Dr. Jacob Knight, both died in a plane crash four weeks ago.

Once again he sighed, he seemed to be doing that a lot these days. Heero would have to make up the parents' profiles as well. Hotaru just snuggled against his chest. He could feel her breathing slow as the little girl fell asleep. Strange as it might sound, there was something comforting about having her there.

More Information: Hotaru was kept at the Maxwell Orphanage for a week. On August 20th, 201 AC Heero Yuy and Relena Peacecraft adopted her together.

Heero looked down at her and smirked, "You do realize that you officially now have one uncle with a terrible sister complex."

Hotaru is currently living with Heero Yuy and Relena Peacecraft in the Winner's Mansion on Sunrise St. in the Sank Kingdom. Duo Maxwell, Trowa Barton, Quatre Winner and Chang Wufei are also living in the Winner's Mansion and are helping to take care of the child. With the adoption of Hotaru, Hotaru has now gained relatives from Ms. Peacecraft's family. She has an uncle Milliardo Peacecraft and an aunt Lucreiza Noin Peacecraft.

He shut of the laptop, figuring that he could leave the little details for tomorrow. Careful as to not wake the sleeping babe, Heero carried her up to her room. Switching on the light to her room Heero gave a small smile as he looked around. Both Relena and Heero were sure that Quatre wouldn't mind them redecorating one of the rooms. Inside the room was painted with a white and blue background with dark purple fireflies on it. The furniture was a creamy white, with a crib, change table, toy box, etc… On the toy box were three of Hotaru's dolls. The one in the middle was the long blond haired lady in a white dress. On her left was a black haired lady in a red dress and on the right was a brown haired lady in a green dress. Heero tucked Hotaru in bed, setting the black cat beside her. He looked at her with wondering thoughts. How could so much change in three days? Hotaru slept on her stomach with her dark hair falling over her eyes and a curled thumb near her mouth.

"Goodnight."

Somewhere in the Gates of Time all of the Senshi were watching this. The Inners were cooing on how cute the whole thing was. Chibi-Use commented on how pretty the room was and how Hotaru would like the fireflies when she was old enough. Michiru was telling Haruka that from the looks of it everything would be fine and that there was nothing to worry about. For one of the few times in Usagi's life, she was serious and worried.

"What is the matter?" Setsuna asked.

Usagi looked up, "Setsuna, are you sure that it will be alright when it is time?"

"I'm positive."

Michiru spoke up, "I'm going to have to agree with Usagi this time. You'd be surprise Setsuna; parenthood does strange things to a person. Haruka is a good example of that."

"Hey!" Haruka cried out indigenously.

"It's true! Compare to how you treated Hotaru when we were taking care of her compare to when we first met her," Michiru pointed out, "Or do I have to go through all of those times?"

Haruka grumbled, "Good point… I give the guy a week, and then we will see if he's worse than me."

Rei shook her head, "He'll crumble less than a week. Not everyone can stand up to a cute baby after all."

Ami put a reassuring hand on Usagi's shoulder, "Don't worry, everything will turn out alright in the end. They always do, and I'll have to agree with Rei."

"No way!" Makoto said, "That guy down there looks as cold as ice. Some people are just like stone."

"I hate to say it, but you're wrong," Haruka stated, "You try stand up to being called 'daddy'."

And so what turned out to be trouble times with Hotaru's safety turned into a betting session on when Heero was going to crumble and become Hotaru's daddy.

Author's Note: I know this took a long time, and truth be told this is shorter than my other stuff. Anyhow thanks for informing me on my mistake with Hotaru's attack. The first chapter has been corrected, I found an error in the second chapter, but strangely it didn't bug anyone. School has kept me busy; my muse has been bugging me with other things and well… I'm just slight stressed.

Now… since I'm writing this note, I might as well get on to other things since some people also read my other stories. First, the summer will be a time to finish at least one of my stories. Sorry, but this one isn't on top of my list. Wing School is my toppie right now. Considering it's been out for nearly a year and a half. Coming in second place is both Have Faith and Daddy's Little Firefly. I'll be working on those when I'm having trouble with Wing School.


	4. Joys of Fatherhood

Joys of Fatherhood

Day 4 – Daughter-Father Time a.k.a. Relena Isn't Around 

Heero had awoken early that morning, not that, that wasn't normal for him. It was just that he wanted to wake up before Hotaru woke up so that he could finish her profile. He headed downstairs, made himself a cup of coffee before setting to work at his laptop. As he typed in silence he found he kept thinking about Hotaru. In the time he had received her, Heero had looked up parenting sites. What he found out was that Hotaru didn't fit the description of a regular baby. Besides the fact the Hotaru kept on growing she was well… quiet. Oh, she would giggle, cause trouble, laugh and say things from time to time, but it wasn't like she cried her head off all time, if she wanted to cuddle she would bug him, if she wanted to play she would make whining sounds and if she was tired she could be cranky and start throwing her cats at him. Speaking of which, the minute Heero finished his work Hotaru woke and started crying for him to get her. (Isn't babies' timing amazing?)

There Hotaru was, sitting up in her crib wailing her head off and waving her arms in the air. Heero looked down at the baby girl. The minute she realized that he was looking at her, she stopped and looked back up at him. He raised a brow. Yep, definitely not your normal baby. Picking her up, Hotaru leaned over his arms, reaching out to one of her dolls. Heero crouched down to where the dolls were, "Which one?" he mentally kicked himself again. He was talking to her like she could understand him.

Hotaru reached out and grabbed the one with blond hair.

Going back downstairs Heero put Hotaru in her highchair. As she played with her doll, Heero looked over his shoulders. Once again the girl had gotten older, by a bit he guessed, it was hard to tell. Maybe he should try to give her some semi-solid foods now. Walking over to the stove, Heero started to make oatmeal for both of them. As strange as it might sound, Heero wasn't really a stranger to cooking. Quatre couldn't cook all the time, Trowa would every once and awhile. Duo, well… put it nicely, the entrance to the kitchen would forever bare the sign "No Maxwells Beyond This Point". Wufei would just refuse to cook, period. The phone rang and Heero picked it up without thinking.

"Hello," he stated.

"Heero, it's Relena," the voice on the other line told him.

Heero carefully positioned the phone between his ear and shoulder, "Relena, did the meeting go well?"

"Put it nicely it went okay…" Relena paused, "Put it bluntly we're lucky another war didn't break out. I'm sorry, but I'm going to be stuck here for a while. Probably until the end of this week."

"Understood," Heero answered.

Relena paused again, "Okay… but I'm trusting you not to turn her into a trigger-happy manic!"

"Now what gives you the idea I would do that?" Heero asked, though he thought that the thought was amusing.

"This coming from the guy who seems to shoot now and ask questions later?" Heero would imagine Relena raising an eyebrow over there.

Heero couldn't help but smirk, "Relena, Hotaru would be in more danger being raised by Duo than by me."

Hotaru called out, "Ma ma?"

"Was that Hotaru?" Relena's voice sounded more cheery.

"Yea… she likes to talk every once and a while," Heero explained.

"Right… and you're right, she could have been put in Duo's care. Anyhow I better be going. Heero, could you do me a favor?"

Heero was surprised, "Yes?"

"Could you please record any special moments of Hotaru while I'm gone? I have a feeling I'm going to miss most of them."

"……… Okay."

"Thank you Heero," with that Relena hung up.

As Heero put the phone back on it's cradle, it occurred to him that he would be alone with Hotaru for quite a while. Turning back to her, he watched as Hotaru waved her doll around. He shook his head, what did he know about being a father? What did it take to be a father? What in the hell was Dr. J thinking?

It turned out that Heero was right; Hotaru was ready for semi-solid foods. In fact she really did like the oatmeal. Okay… so not all of the oatmeal went into her mouth. She actually tried to scoop up some of the oatmeal in her hand and feed it to Heero.

After breakfast though, Heero wasn't sure of what to do with her. Besides the routine getting her dress and ready for the day that is. Then it occurred to him that he should get some more things for Hotaru. If his hunch about Hotaru's growing rate were right, then she would need more clothes. He also needed a camera since he **did** promise Relena to record her special moments. So, with Hotaru in a stroller and him armed with a list, Heero was ready to set out with Hotaru alone.

Back at the Gates of Time the Senshi were once again watching. They were still dealing with their enemy, but finding the mastermind behind all of this was hopefully close. What had frustrated this new threat was that Hotaru was nowhere to be found.

Minako shook her head with pity, "Poor guy, new at emotions and at parenting and he's all alone."

"This is going to be interesting," Rei added.

"Considering you betted he'll crumble today," Minako pointed out.

"I still say it's a lost cause," Makoto gave her opinion.

Michiru had this strange look on her face, "You know… I wonder…"

"Wonder what?" Haruka asked.

"Nothing, we'll see," Michiru just brushed the thought away, "He's going to be alone for the rest of the week, so we'll see how he does, ne?"

By the time Heero got back to the house he had gotten clothes to fit a growing one-year-old, those military dogtags, a video camera, children's books and a light blond doll, picked out by Hotaru of course. Now all he had to do was survive a few days with Hotaru.

Day 5 – Standing a.k.a. The Walls Are Crumbling 

The day started out like any other. Well, almost anyhow. Hotaru was playing with her cats again, and Heero was talking to Lady Une. It seemed that some kind of crisis came up and Lady Une wanted Heero to deal with it.

"Heero, don't you say 'mission denied' to me," Lady Une said in a warning voice, "We need you on this now! Don't forget-"

"Lady Une, with all due respect I cannot take this mission," Heero was watching Hotaru crawl to the couch, "I can give advice if you want, but I will not go out on the field. In fact I won't being going out onto the field for a long time."

Lady Une couldn't believe it, "Are you telling me there's a mission you won't take? Why?"

Heero looked away for a moment, he paused, "Because… there is something more important than the mission."

"More important than the mission? Heero we're talking about the peace of the world here! Did Dr. J give you another mission I don't know about?" Lady Une demanded to know.

Heero thought about it. He could just go on this mission since Lady Une wasn't suppose to know about any of the missions he got from Dr. J, but then what? Who would look after Hotaru? He could leave her with someone until Relena got back, but what if he got killed? He smirked to himself and shook his head. A few years ago the thought of getting himself killed didn't bother him, but then again he didn't have anyone that would miss him. Not that Hotaru would miss him; she was too young to understand. Or was she? Heero frowned to himself, if she was developing fast physically how fast was she mentally? How did he know that she didn't understand the conversation he was having right now?

"Da da?" Hotaru looked at him, watching him. Then taking a grip on the couch she slowly pulled herself up. Heero turned his head to where she was. He would have nearly dropped the phone. There Hotaru was, standing next to the couch. She smiled at him as if she knew that would shock him.

"Lady Une, I'll get back to you," Heero said absently and hung up.

He walked over to Hotaru. Hotaru let go of the couch and held her arms out towards him only to fall on her butt. She pouted, but didn't cry. Kneeling beside her, Heero had this strange feeling in his chest. It was similar to the one when she said her first words, only it was stronger. It was only when he started to smile that he realized what this feeling was flowering inside his chest. Pride.

"You're a fast learner, aren't you?" Heero asked.

Hotaru smiled because even brighter, "Ya, da!"

"Knowing you, you'll be walking really soon. Even tomorrow," Heero picked her up.

She patted his cheek, not saying anything, but the action was stronger than words.

Once again in deep thought Heero thought about Hotaru's fate. If he died during that mission, Relena wouldn't be allowed to raise her. Dr. J would, and despite all of Dr. J's good intentions, he **would** turn her into a trigger-happy manic.

"She would become like me," Heero thought as Hotaru explored his face, "She looks so innocent now, but what about then? Also would she keep aging like this? Would it be, she would only live for a few months? For those few months in her life to be trained as a soldier?"

He remembered his own training well. He didn't know who this colleague was, but if Hotaru was going to stay with him. She might as well be raised as a normal child right?

Heero picked the phone up again.

"Hello Preventers HQ, how may I help you?"

"I would like to speak to Lady Une," Heero stated.

"Just one moment…"

Lady Une's voice came on, "Lady Une speaking."

"This is Heero," Heero sat down with Hotaru on his lap.

"Heero, now about that mission…"

Heero cut her off, "Lady Une, I told you I can't."

"May I ask why?"

He paused and looked at Hotaru, his eyes soften, "Because… I can't die and leave Hotaru alone."

"Hotaru? Who is-"

"I'll explain in full detail when I make my weekly visit Lady Une. In fact… I'll introduce you to her," and Heero hung up.

_Day 6 – Taking The First Step (Towards Humanity)_

Heero was typing away at his laptop, hoping to finish his report before tomorrow. Personally he just wanted his business at the Preventers' HQ and leave. He really didn't want to have Hotaru stay there for too long. Suddenly he was hit on the back of the head by something soft. Quickly he turned with his gun pointed. He saw Hotaru standing by the couch. He looked down and saw a black stuff cat.

"Need a nap?" he asked.

Hotaru pouted, "Da da."

"There are better ways than hitting people on the back of their heads," Heero stated dryly.

She let go of the couch only to fall on her butt, again, "Mff."

Heero stood up, "Don't you cry, you're the one that let go remember?"

It was strange, but Heero got use to talking to Hotaru. He refused to give her baby talk. She was a smart girl, and he was going to talk to her like she could understand. As eerily as it sounded, she acted like she could understand, but she was still a baby. He watched as she kept on getting up and falling down. Hotaru got as far as sticking out one foot in front of her. He had to admit, she was persist. Getting up from behind Hotaru he gently picked her up by her hands. With both of her feet touching the ground Hotaru put one foot out in front of her. Finally, one foot after another she started to walk. Without disturbing her, Heero let go. Crouching down he watched as Hotaru shakily walked a few steps and fell on her butt.

He smirked, "That's good, now come here…" he held out his arms.

Hotaru got up and fell.

"You're not going to give up now? Are you?" Heero asked.

She pouted again, getting up she took a few shakily steps before falling into Heero's arms.

"See… not that bad," He murmured picking her up.

Heero never did finish that report. He spent the rest of the day helping Hotaru to walk. For it seemed that Hotaru's first steps, were like first steps for Heero. He was experiencing for the first time the true joys of being a parent. The wonder of what life could give, if you gave it a chance.

All of the Senshi were amazed, Heero was smiling, and he was accepting Hotaru for more than just a mission.

Makoto murmured, "I don't believe…"

"Believe it," Haruka answered.

Minako smiled, "Looks like Ami wins the bet."

Ami watched Usagi, "Usagi?"

"Setsuna…" Usagi turned to the Guardian of Time.

"It seems that I was mistaken… but we need Hotaru back," Setsuna was clearly worried, "What will happen to Crystal Tokyo if she doesn't come back?"

"What will happen to them if she does?" Usagi asked.

Rei put a hand on Usagi shoulder, "We will worry when we think the time comes."

Author's Note: You know… I must be on a streak here. I don't normally come out with another one this soon. Well, here it is. We'll see how long this will last. My muse is back on track! Yay!


	5. Heero's Pride, Everyone's Shock

Heero's Pride, Everyone's Shock

It was the seventh day of Hotaru arrival, and the first day Hotaru would be taken to the Preventers' HQ. He dressed her in a little red dress and put the newly brought military dogtags around her neck. Making sure he packed all three of her stuff cats (he didn't want Hotaru throwing any of her dolls at people if she got cranky), some baby food and other supplies before heading out the door. Now that dealing with Hotaru's welfare was done with Heero had to worry about the next problem. Someone was bound to notice that Hotaru grew quite fast, which left him with the problem, what was he going to tell Lady Une? He could just tell the truth, saying he got Hotaru from a colleague of Dr. J's, but that would mean Hotaru would be taken away. Getting into the car he shrugged, well he would just tell Lady Une a bit, leave out the rest and if all else failed he would threaten to destroy who ever tried to take the baby. With that plan worked out Heero set off to work with an interested Hotaru in the back.

Nothing ever fazed Heero (well, except for Hotaru) so it was no surprise that even with everyone staring openly at him Heero didn't batter an eyelash. He acted like this was perfectly normal, while to everyone else. Put it nicely, seeing Heero carrying a baby and a bag full of baby supplies, it looked like Hell frozen over. There Hotaru was, one little hand clutching Heero's shirt and the other reaching out whatever caught her interest.

As Heero pasted the front desk, the secretary just glanced up for a moment saying, "Morning Mr. Yuy."

"Hn."

She blinked, when she realized that Mr. Yuy was carrying a baby. Quickly she stood up, leaned over her desk and looked down at the direction that Heero was walking. Sure enough, waving over Heero's shoulder was a dark-haired baby girl. Had Heero looked over his shoulder he would have see the secretary's jaw drop about a mile.

"Ya! Na da!" Hotaru squealed in delight.

Heero nodded absently, it was time to visit Lady Une.

Lady Une was finishing, signing some papers. It would seem that the Preventers would always be a busy place. Her secretary walked in as she set aside one stack of forms.

"Excuse me, but Mr. Yuy is here to see you," the secretary looked slightly shell shocked.

Lady Une absently replied, "Send him in," she looked up from her papers, "Heero can you please tell me… Is that a baby with you?" she asked in complete shock.

Heero nodded, "Yes."

"Haaaa!" the little baby girl squealed happily before taking the dogtags around her neck and stuffing them in her mouth.

Heero looked down at Hotaru, gently tugging them out of her mouth, "Hotaru, don't do that. Come on."

"Pffft!" she splat out the dogtags.

Lady Une stared, it was one thing for Heero to get carrying around a baby, but it was a completely other thing when Heero started acting fatherly. She was always told that when you worked closely with someone you would learn more about them and see things others don't but this was taking it just a bit far.

Lady Une tried to gather her scattered wits, "Heero, who is she?"

Heero calmly went over to the door, and closed it, not before giving some Ensigns the deathglare to scare them off. Then he turned and set Hotaru down on the table. He took out a stuff toy cat, letting the baby play with it and his hand. In a monotone voice, Heero explained about Dr. J, the mysterious colleague, Hotaru and about her unusual growing ability. When he was done Lady Une leaned back in her chair.

"Heero, you do realize that Dr. J and this colleague if found would be triad for inhumane acts and that Hotaru would have to be taken into custody," Lady Une said slowly, "I know you follow orders Heero but this child…"

Heero nodded, "I'm aware of that, but I don't even know who this colleague is."

Lady Une thought for a minute, "We need to take her into custody."

"We won't find this colleague then," Heero answered back.

"Are you saying you're willing to keep her until he or she comes?" Lady Une figured this wouldn't make life a lot easier if he did.

"No one is taking her, not Dr. J, not this colleague and not you," Heero stated.

If Lady Une thought she knew Heero, then this is really did change everything she knew then. She studied him carefully and noticed that Heero's arm was too close to his gun for comfort. Heero was giving her a challenging look. Hotaru looked at Lady Une with big, innocent dark purple eyes and then looked at Heero.

Hotaru blinked, "Da da?"

That pretty much decided things, "So Heero, what's her name and what should I put in your and her file?" Lady Une asked, "The Insurance and what we can put you on is going to be different now that…"

Heero answered, "Hotaru Yuy, her guardians will be the other pilots and Relena."

"Does Milliardo know about this?" Lady Une asked.

Heero gave her a look, "Do you think this building would be in one piece if he did?"

"Good point," Lady Une wrote out a memo to update Heero's profile.

She watched she he walked out of the office. Hotaru leaned over his shoulder, waving goodbye to Lady Une. She really shouldn't but Lady Une just had to wave back. This little girl was really going to shake up the Gundam pilots' lives. Leaning back, Lady Une thought about this. Heero Yuy, a father. If he did keep her pass the age of twelve it would certainly be worth watching.

Somewhere else in the Preventers Headquarters, Chang Wufei had just come back from his last mission. Now he was stuck with the hardest part of all, the paperwork. He was busy, typing away at his computer only to stop every once in awhile to take a sip of coffee. It was about late afternoon now, and he wanted to finish up in time to catch a ride home with Heero. His partner, Sally came walked and sat down beside him. Only after minutes had passed did Wufei stop his typing to notice that Sally looked slightly dazed.

"What's the matter with you woman?" Wufei asked gruffly.

Sally turned to look at him, "Have you heard the rumors going around lately?"

Wufei blinked, Sally didn't even chew him out for calling her woman. When something like that happens, he knew that something Sally heard must have really shocked her.

Wufei shook his head, "No, why?"

"Well," Sally looked at him strangely, "People keep asking me, if you told me about the baby Heero's carrying around."

"What?" Wufei exclaimed.

Sally shrugged, "Well, rumor has it that Heero was been seen around Preventers carrying a baby girl in his arms," she paused before adding, "and a bag full of baby stuff."

Wufei stared before snorting, "Doubt it, Yuy would hang himself before taking care of a baby. Are you sure some Ensign didn't just pull one over on everyone?"

"Considering a lot of Preventers claim the same thing?" Sally asked.

Wufei got up from his seat, "Sally, you are an even-headed woman. Think about it, this is Heero we're talking about."

"Good point," Sally mused, "But everyone seemed so sure…"

"I'll check this out myself," Wufei answered, "Yuy is here today so I'll ask him myself. If he goes off and tries to shoot anyone then I know it's a lie. Ensign!"

A young man with messy red hair and freckles came bounding in. He was holding tons of paper and mail.

"Yes sir?"

Wufei gave him a measuring glance, "What have you heard about this rumor?"

"The one about the baby?"

"Yes," Wufei gave him a light glare.

"Uh… I heard that some saw him in the cafeteria feeding chopped up bananas to the baby he was said to be carrying around."

Wufei glanced at Sally and Sally shrugged, "Carry on."

"Yes sir!"

"Yuy will kill whoever made that rumor," Wufei muttered as he left to investigate.

Sally tilled back her chair as she watch Wufei leave, "Should I have told him there were rumors that the baby was Heero's daughter?"

Near the offices were people such as Heero Yuy worked Ms. Shoemaker the secretary was bouncing a baby girl on her lap. Mr. Yuy came by earlier saying that he was needed to read over some reports and that he couldn't watch Hotaru while doing so and asked for her to look after the baby while he worked. She was happy to; after all, the baby was so cute. Ms. Shoemaker, in all the time she was secretary never knew that Mr. Yuy had to heart to look after a child. As she was playing cats with the baby the phone rang.

She put Hotaru down, "Now you stay there," picking up the phone she answered, "Preventers HQ how may I help you?"

Hotaru made a face, as she didn't like to be ignored for any length of time unless she was busy. While the secretary was busy trying to help the caller find the person he was looking for, Hotaru took off and half walked and half crawled away. The hallway was empty with a lot of room to crawl around in. She happily putted about until she rammed into something. The little girl looked up to see a man with black hair and dark eyes looking back down at her.

Wufei was heading down to Heero's office when he saw girl about one years of age happily walking and falling around in the hallway. She had this bright smile on her face as stumbled down the hallway. That was until she rammed into his legs that is. The girl sat there, staring at his feet for a few seconds before slowly looking up. Wufei looked down, not knowing what to expect.

"Na… KAAAAAA!!!!" the little girl squealed on top of her lungs.

Wufei winced as he bent down, "Stop that!" he growled.

She just clapped happily.

He shook his head, she was a baby, what did he expect she do? Start saluting him and blabbering sorry like the ensigns he ran into? The clink of metal brought him out of his thoughts. There were dogtags around her neck. Carefully he took them and read the inscription. It read:

Hotaru; If found, return to room 478

The Chinese pilot couldn't help but blink at that. Room 478, wasn't that Heero's office number? Why would there be dogtags telling the person to return her to Heero's office? Wufei just shook his head; it had to be a fluke. It was probably for another building of sorts. He would take the child to the secretary down the hall and she would return the baby to her mother. As he picked up the child, Wufei's head was reeling with possibilities. The baby squealed with delight as she started to play with Wufei's ponytail by swatting it, after a while she was just as happy to tug at it, but gently. He frowned; Wufei was always told that if a child got a hold of your hair when they tugged, it hurt. This child on the other hand was just tugging lightly though.

Hotaru… that was a Japanese name wasn't it? Yes… if he remembered correctly, it translated into firefly. Heero was Japanese; he would know that, but nah… They said that Yuy was carrying on child, not that he had a child. It could have been possible that some newly Japanese worker asked Yuy to take care of the baby because he was Japanese and the only person she felt comfortable with, but still… One would not ask Heero to take care of a child.

As he neared the offices Ms. Shoemaker ran up to him with a relieved look on her face.

"Mr. Chang! Thank you so much for finding Hotaru!" she quickly took the baby from his arms, "She wandered off when I was taking a phone call."

Wufei nodded, "You should be more careful, she was stumbling all over the hallway."

"Yes Mr. Chang, I will," she held the baby girl up, "Now Hotaru never do that again you hear?"

"Woman, she's a baby, she doesn't understand a word you're saying," Wufei gruffly told her.

Ms. Shoemaker shook her head, "Mr. Yuy claims she knows perfectly well and he refuses to treat her anything less than a knowing child."

Wufei blinked, "Did you say Mr. Yuy?"

"Why of course," Ms. Shoemaker said innocently, "Mr. Yuy told me to take care of her while he does his paperwork."

"And exactly whose child is Mr. Yuy looking after?" Wufei asked carefully and slowly.

Ms. Shoemaker looked at him in surprise, "You mean you don't know? This is Hotaru Yuy, Mr. Yuy's daughter."

Outside the Preventers' building people passing by both civilian and Preventer stopped at a deafening shout coming from within the building itself. The people working in the building who were at a rank lower than lieutenant ducked for cover.

"YUY!!!!!"

Both of the secretary and the baby stared at Wufei as he yelled his head off.

Heero came up to them, "What is it Wufei? And why are you yelling? That's normally reserved for Duo."

"That woman," Wufei pointed to Ms. Shoemaker, "Is claiming that, that girl," now pointing to Hotaru who was looking at his finger like it was the most interesting thing in the world, "Is your daughter."

"What did Hotaru do now?" Heero asked with a bit of amusement, "Throw her cats at the back of Wufei's head?"

"No sir, she just wandered off and Mr. Chang brought her back."

Wufei just stared at his long time friend. Was Heero Yuy, the Perfect Soldier amused by this? Heero was never amused, not even when one of Duo's pranks backfired on him.

"Yuy, what is going on?" Wufei demanded.

Ms. Shoemaker sighed in impatiently, "I told you Mr. Chang, Hotaru is Mr. Yuy's-"

"Woman, Heero has never had a child. I would know! I live with him!"

"But you've been gone a week sir," Ms. Shoemaker protested, "I mean, of course she's not biologically his daughter but-"

"Hell will freeze over before Yuy adopts," Wufei growled, "I know, one would not give Yuy a baby!"

If it weren't for the fact that it would no doubt give Wufei a heart attack Heero would have been most tempted to laugh. He had never seen his friend in such self-denial about anything, well, unless it involved Sally that was different. Here Wufei was, telling the secretary that she was mistaken and that there was no way Heero could be the father to Hotaru.

"Wufei," Heero said calmly.

Wufei turned to him, "What?"

With the normal stone mask Heero stated, "Hotaru is my daughter. I adopted her a week ago."

It turned deadly quiet in the hallway, without a sound coming from anyone but the squirming of the baby. The secretary wouldn't say anything for she feared what would happen if she did. Heero was waiting for Wufei to say something. Wufei looked like he was hit on the back of the head with a two-by-four.

Finally Wufei croaked, "Does Winner know?"

"No, but I'm sure Quatre wouldn't mind the fact we redecorated one of the rooms to suit Hotaru," Heero shrugged.

"We?"

"Relena has been helping me. You know they won't let a single parent adopt, so Relena has joint custody of Hotaru."

"Relena has joint custody of her?"

"Technically speaking yes."

"How?"

"She's been living with me."

"Does Milliardo know?"

"No."

"Does the others know?"

"No."

"Who else knows?"

"Lady Une."

"Why?"

"Why…"

"Why adopt?"

"I'll explain later."

"Yuy."

"Yes Wufei?"

"This is the last time we're leaving you at home by yourself!"

Author's Note: * rolls on the ground laughing * Now Wufei knows! Man, that had to be a shocker to his system. I don't' even think it's fully sunk in yet. Anyhow that's chapter five! Who should be the next to have a heart at- I mean, find out about Hotaru?


	6. Little Yuy

Little Yuy

Trowa stretched as he stepped out of the cab in front of the house he and the other Gundam pilots were staying. After ten days of searching, the circus had finally found a new clown to replace the one they lost. Now it was only a matter of keeping this new clown from running off like the last one. It was tiring to say the least to convince the new clown that Catherine would **not** impale him with her knives. Slowly he walked up the stone steps leading to the front door. He put the key into the slot and turned. He felt comfortable the minute Trowa walked it. Everything had its place and was just like he left it. He could smell the cooking of food coming from the kitchen, which had to be Quatre since he could hear the typing of keys. That could only be Heero. He could hear the pounding of feet running in the hallway, no doubt Duo and Wufei after another prank. Yes, it was just like it always was. When Trowa got to the stairs he noticed that there were little white gates blocking the bottom and top of the stairs. The Heavyarms pilot shook his head, wondering what Duo had done now. Being as tall as he was, Trowa simply stepped over the gates and walked to his room. His door was closed, which was strange because he could recall that he didn't close the door when he left. Maybe Quatre did to keep Duo from doing something to his room?

Deciding it was pointless to ponder about it, Trowa dropped the bags in his room and left for the kitchen. If anyone could tell him what he had missed it was Quatre. As he walked into the spotless, white kitchen, Trowa looked expecting to see Quatre, instead he saw Relena there doing paperwork on the kitchen table. She looked up from her work to smile at the Heavyarms pilot.

"Welcome back Trowa," Relena greeted him.

Trowa nodded, "Relena… Did something happen while I was gone?"

"Well," Relena looked at him thoughtfully, "A lot's happened while you were gone… Where would you like me to start?"

Trowa was sorely tempted to ask why she was here. After all she normally wouldn't be here since she was so busy. That was unless there was another attempt on her life, well that was the only reason he could think of. If that was the case then it was better off he didn't ask.

"What have the others been up to?" Trowa asked.

It was a perfectly innocent question and it would tell him how long she had been here.

Relena slowly stacked her papers into a neat pile, "Duo is still out on that trip with Hilde, and Quatre is away on business. Wufei just got back from Preventers HQ three days ago and Heero…" she trailed off.

Trowa studied her; Relena seemed a bit hesitant in telling him what Heero had been up to. Relena sat back into her chair and looked at him. There was silence between them, that was until they heard more pounding of footsteps in the hallway again. Both of them turned their heads in the direction of the sound.

"And I still have work to do," Relena pushed her chair out and was about to get out of her seat.

Trowa shook his head, "I'll get it. I'm use to Duo and Wufei's…"

Now it was his turn to trail off. A thought had just occurred to Trowa has he was saying how he was use to Wufei and Duo's chases. Relena had just said that Duo was away with Hilde and had not come back yet. If that was so, then whom was Wufei chasing? There was no one else in the house that could or would get on Wufei's nerves.

Trowa turned to Relena, "Relena, I heard running when I came in, if Duo isn't home then who is Wufei chasing?"

"Oh dear…" Relena shook her head, "Heero and I have been so busy lately. I knew letting Wufei look after her was a bad idea. They get into things so easily at that age and Wufei has very little patience."

"What do you mean?" Trowa asked, but it was clear that Relena was a bit preoccupied at the moment.

Relena shook her head again, "Trowa could you do me a favor and get Hotaru before Wufei gets really stress?"

"Hmm… Okay," Trowa nodded.

What else could he do but agree, it seemed that Relena wasn't going to tell him until Wufei stopped chasing this 'Hotaru'. Still, Relena normally wasn't this cryptic about anything, it made him wonder if something really serious happened while he was gone. Did something happen to Heero? Did someone get hurt? And who in the hell was Hotaru?

Then there was the matter of Wufei. Wufei was chasing someone other than Duo? Who else in this house could he be chasing? Without a word Trowa went to the living room to see this 'Hotaru'. When he got there no one was there. Trowa stood in the living room for a few minutes pondering what was going on. Suddenly without warning a dark purple blur streaked pass him and dove under the coffee table. For a moment Trowa would have swore that there was a bit of brightly coloured straws with that dark blur too.

A minute later Wufei came running in, "LITTLE YUY GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW!"

A giggle came from underneath the coffee table.

Trowa blinked.

Wufei knelt down beside the coffee table, "Get out here right now!"

"Wu-fi."

"My name is Wufei! Not Wufie!"

"Wu-fi."

Wufei tried to stick his head underneath the table and the only thing he managed to do was hit his head when he tried to get up. As he rubbed his sore head Wufei swore vividly in Chinese and English. 

Without warning a gunshot went off in the house, this was followed by Relena and Heero's voice shouted, "WUFEI DON'T SWEAR IN FRONT OF HOTARU!"

The child didn't cry, instead she giggled, again.

Oh yes… this was getting interesting. Trowa had to blink again, did Heero just tell Wufei not to swear? Of course, no one should swear in front of a child, but Heero would have been the last person he'd expect to enforce that rule. Now that he thought about it, didn't Wufei call her little Yuy? The child, now known as Hotaru shot out from under the table without warning. Only Trowa was quick enough to grab her before she could run out of the living room. 

"Got you," Trowa murmured as he picked her up.

She gave him a cute pout, which didn't last longer than a minute and then she was smiling a bright smile.

Wufei growled, "Straws are not for playing with."

"WU-FI!" she squealed, clapping happily and mauling the straws at the same time.

Carefully Trowa pried the straws from her hands, "I don't think they'll do much good now."

"Naaaaaahhhhh!" she pouted again.

Wufei just glared at her, "That brat keeps getting into things!"

"Wufei, children always gets into things," Trowa couldn't help but smirk, "That's how they learn."

"She opened the small China cabinet," Wufei stated.

"…"

Wufei growled and explained.

~ Flashback ~

Wufei was stuck with looking after Hotaru. He couldn't believe he got roped into this, but Relena had told him that now he was her guardian and Heero said that Relena had to go to a meeting and he was called back to the Preventers to deal with a crisis of sorts. This left him with baby Hotaru Yuy, which he now called Little Yuy. It was noon and he was looking for her. She was in the living room a few minutes ago and then she was gone. Who knew that toddlers could run so fast?

_"Where is she?" Wufei growled._

_It had taken 24 hours for the hold thing to sink in. 24 hours to sink in Wufei's brain that Hotaru was for keeps. No way in hell was Heero going to let this child go. That was going to be a problem. It also took another 24 hours for it to sink in that Hotaru wasn't a normal child. She didn't act like a normal child most of the time and when she did there was hell to pay. The girl had grown bigger and understood some of the words she said. Like 'dada' and 'mama'._

_He heard a giggle._

_Wufei whirled around, "Little Yuy!"_

_Another giggle, this time it came from the dining room. Wufei started to run towards there. When he did get to the dining room he saw Hotaru there. She had opened the small China cabinet where Quatre kept some crystal figures. The baby girl had grabbed a small dragonfly crystal figure and was proceeding to stuff it in her mouth._

~ End Flashback ~

Trowa could help but give a small smile, "She was about to put it in her mouth?"

"Yes!" Wufei growled, "I barely kept her from slobbering over Winner's figurine."

Trowa lifted Hotaru up to eye level, "That's why you have to keep an eye on her at all times."

Wufei just threw up his hands, "Look, you tell Winner why there are baby fingerprints all over his crystal. That girl is a spawn from-"

Another gunshot went off, Hotaru covered her ears but otherwise she didn't think twice about it. Heero's voice could be heard shouting, "SAY IT CHANG AND I'LL WILL KILL YOU!"

"You know Yuy, most people would say they'd wash the person's mouth out with soap, not kill them!" Wufei shouted back.

"I'M NOT LIKE MOST PEOPLE CHANG. YOU KNOW THAT!"

Wufei grumbled under his breath, "Yuy has more patience for her than he does with Maxwell."

Trowa blinked, Heero having more patience in a baby than in Duo? Wufei noticed the confused look on Trowa's face. He had to admit; Trowa had been showing more facial expressions than he had seen in a long time.

"You have no idea what's going on do you Barton?" Wufei asked.

Trowa shook his head, "I'm afraid I've been caught off guard more times than I have in a lifetime."

"Well, you just figure out the things I've been saying about her," Wufei said, "Then you're really in for a headache."

Wufei shook his head wearily. Now that she was caught, Trowa got a good look at her. She was wearing a purple dress that matched her dark purple hair and dark eyes. The baby girl looked up at him with large eyes and smiled and shrieked happily. Wufei looked at Trowa, watching him. Trowa couldn't understand why Wufei was watching him like that. He tried to go over the conversation he had with Wufei to figure out why Wufei said he was in for a headache. All Wufei had told Trowa was about the trouble she was getting herself into. He had called her 'Little Yuy'.

That's when Trowa froze, "Little Yuy?"

"Uh huh…" Wufei nodded slowly, "That's right Barton."

"So Heero found lost family?" Trowa asked.

Wufei shook his head, "Barton, do you have any idea what Yuy's been doing behind our backs?"

Trowa shook his head. As far as he knew, Heero would never do anything behind their backs unless it had to do with a mission and there were no missions he knew of so far. Hotaru looked from Trowa to Wufei and back again. Wufei gently took Hotaru from Trowa. Once again, like the first time he met her Hotaru started to gently swat his ponytail. The solitary pilot had to admit; when she wasn't being a little hellion she was kind of sweet. Not that he'd admit that to anyone. The only other reason why he agreed to this was because Wufei was outraged by the idea of scientists experimenting on a child.

"A colleague of Dr. J's gave Hotaru to Heero to take care of her until she physically reached the age of twelve," Wufei explained.

Trowa blinked, "Dr. J? Physically?"

"She grows fast. Ten days ago she was a newborn and Relena has to pictures to prove it," Wufei shook his head, "Just imagine, in a few days she'll be going through the Terrible Twos."

Trowa nodded, "So she's an experiment of sorts. A genetically created Perfect Soldier?"

"Probably…" Wufei shrugged.

Hotaru buried her head into Wufei's chest, "Gaaa, na. Paa, Yeee…"

Trowa stared at Hotaru, he many ways he felt sorry for the girl. After all, he had always said he was a soldier since the day he was born. Now here was Hotaru, an experiment of Dr. J's and child who was truly a soldier since the day she was born. Though Trowa had to wonder… he always thought the scientists preferred boys, why did Dr. J and his colleague create a girl?

"Wufei," Trowa turned his attention back to Wufei, "We can't let Heero give her back to Dr. J and this colleague of his."

"Who said he was going to give her back?" Wufei asked.

Trowa blinked, "You mean Lady Une found out?"

Wufei moved Hotaru up to his shoulder, "Trowa meet Hotaru Yuy. Hotaru meet your Uncle Trowa."

Hotaru reached out for Trowa opening and closing her tiny fist, "Tow-a, Tow-a!"

"That's right… Trowa," Wufei nodded, "She maybe a… brat at times, but she catches on fast."

Trowa frowned, "He's actually keeping her?"

"Believe or not," Wufei grunted, "Heero and Relena redecorated one of the rooms to suit her."

"So Relena helped," Trowa nodded, that made sense to him.

"Yea."

"I don't believe it," Trowa shook his head, "Heero struck me as the kind of person that rather boil in oil than bounce a baby on his lap."

"Maxwell will either think this is the funniest thing in the world or think Heero has gone crazy," Wufei muttered.

Trowa shook his head, "So Heero adopted her right?"

"Right."

So far everything made sense, Trowa wondered if he should be showing any emotion about this. For some reason he couldn't be really surprised and he didn't know why? Maybe it was because Heero saw a bit of himself in Hotaru or maybe it was so use to strange happenings around here that nothing could surprise him.

Suddenly at thought came to Trowa, "Wufei, if Heero adopted her, wouldn't that mean he'd need joint custody? If none of us were here at the time then who…"

Wufei looked over to where the kitchen was.

Trowa's visible eye widen, "No…"

"Yes."

"Milliardo is going to kill him," Trowa exclaimed softy.

"You mean 'try'," Wufei corrected his friend.

"Milli?" Hotaru asked.

Wufei nodded, "May you never meet your Uncle Milliardo, or else you might lack a father."

In the typical baby fashion, Hotaru tilted her head with baby confusion.

Author's Note: Okay I'm done this chapter! It turned out okay, it's probably not as funny as most people would like but… To be quite honest I had a lot of trouble with Trowa. You see, in typical Trowa fashion he doesn't wear his emotions on his sleeves so…

As you can also tell there's a lot of hinting that Milliardo's reaction will be the worst of the bunch. Also thank you to C. Queen, she has some good stories, but hasn't put them up yet. My next piece of thanks to baby Alexandra whom has been my model for baby Hotaru. Though I doubt you'll ever read this, may your mother never catch you the next time you steal the coloured straws.


	7. Luv Yoo, Bye-bye!

Luv Yoo, Bye-bye!

In the next week to come the Gundam pilots that knew about Heero's 'daughter', Heero and Relena would discover two things about Hotaru. First, that she was far smarter at times than they could give her credit for and she could still act like her physical age at times. At the physical age of two, or somewhere around there, Hotaru was learning to climb stairs.

Her favorite game was to climb up the stairs on her own two feet again and again. The only problem was… she would have to crawl back down the stairs, something she didn't like so…

"TOW-A!!!!" Hotaru's voice rang throughout the house.

General rule of thumb, what was fun for the baby, wasn't fun for the adults. Since Hotaru couldn't walk down the stairs, she would often call her mother, father or uncles to come up and help or carry her down.

"DA-DEE!!!!"

Wufei let out something that was a cross between a groan and a growl as he got up from the couch. As another general rule of thumb, children run on nothing. They can run for hours without so much as a drop of sugar. Adults on the other hand needed sleep, food and perhaps caffeine to run for that long. He shook his head he couldn't believe it. He, Chang Wufei, the man who got up either before or with the rising of the sun to do katas, type long into the night, who had been through more physical training than a normal person was bested by a two year-old.

"Correction," Wufei gave himself a mental note, "She's seventeen days old.

He frowned at that; there were so many mysteries about Hotaru these days. Though he may not seem it, but Wufei was quite a scholar, and knew a puzzling question when he saw one.

"How can she grow so fast? It should tire her out and yet she's like any child," Wufei was slightly worried about the fast growth rate might have some nasty side effects.

"MOMEE!!!"

Another thing, Wufei had to shake his head at that. Children it seemed had an amazing pair of lungs, or was it just Hotaru? As Wufei made his way over to this staircase, he saw that Trowa had all ready beat him to it.

"Hotaru, why do you keep going up the stairs like that?" Trowa asked.

Hotaru smiled, "Wu-fi, Tow-a!"

Trowa turned to Wufei, "She finds this entertaining?"

"Or she likes making our lives miserable," Wufei muttered.

As much as either of them would have liked to choose the second option, Hotaru was just too sweet of a kid to even consider she likes making their lives hell.

"She'll just walk back up," Wufei added.

Trowa looked at him, "So who is going to stay with Hotaru?"

"You," Wufei growled, "I got to look after her for three extra days."

"I will," a voice said behind them.

They both turned to see Heero there with a towel over his shoulder. They also noticed that Heero was also holding a dress belonging to Hotaru.

Heero shrugged, "She needs to take a bath anyways and later when Relena gets back we'll be taking her out for the night."

"Just the three of you?" Trowa asked.

Heero nodded, "Relena has spent way too much time at her desk and Hotaru… she just needs to get out. Besides Quatre is supposed to come home today."

Wufei nodded, "Ah… Winner might have a heart attack if he saw you bouncing Hotaru on your lap."

"Pretty much," Heero shrugged again, "I think Quatre will be the least out of all of us to take this well. You and Trowa should go and pick him up."

"While explaining to him of our additional houseguests," Trowa finished.

"No surprises then," Wufei nodded, "Sounds good."

Hotaru who was still on top of the stairs didn't like the fact they have forgotten all about her.

"DA-DEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!" she screamed on top of her lungs.

Heero looked up, "I'm coming, and you're having a bath."

She smiled and just dropped to the floor, waiting for Heero.

"Am I the only one who finds it uncanny how she understands us?" Trowa asked.

Wufei just sighed, "You'll get use to it. Who knows? Maybe all babies are like that. This is the first time we've looked after a baby you know."

"Perhaps…"

They looked at each other and shrugged as they went off to pick up the unknowing Quatre from the spaceport.

~ Twenty Minutes Later ~

Quatre R. Winner finally made it to Earth after nearly three weeks of business meetings they had finally come down to an agreement. Now all Quatre wanted was a cup of tea and a nice book. He made his way to the nearest phone booth as Quatre wanted to warn his friends he was coming home rather than surprise them. At least he was sure no one knew of his arrival on Earth. The phone wasn't the videophone that he would often have to use, but it would still work. 

Quatre punched in the phone number and waited…

Hotaru had just finished her bath and was wandering around in the kitchen when the phone rang. Heero had gone to the basement for a quick minute to get the stroller as they hadn't had found the time to use it yet. Relena was in the shower and Hotaru was curious. She looked up at the kitchen table where the phone was. Hotaru looked beside her to see a chair. She grabbed hold of it and tried to lift herself up.

"Oufff, aeee, oft," she murmured.

After a minute of hauling and grunting Hotaru finally managed to pull herself on top of the chair. Then as carefully or as dangerously as a baby could she stood up and leaned over to pick up the phone. It stopped ringing! What amazing thing this was! It stopped ringing when she picked up the strange thing. She put the phone back on where she got it.

Quatre stared at the phone in his hand. It took a while for someone to pick up and Quatre worried for a minute that no one was home. Then someone had picked up and hung up on him. Of course, for all he knew it could have been Duo. The blond pilot nodded to himself, that's what probably happened. The ringing of the phone must have woken Duo from his sleep and as a result Duo picked up the phone and placed it back on the hook. So with that in mind Quatre called again…

Hotaru gave a small jump as the phone rang again. She giggled to herself, what fun that the phone rang again! What kind of game was this? She had always seen her daddy and mommy use the phone or answer it. She picked up the phone… and set it back down.

Quatre sighed, it seemed that either the others couldn't get to the phone in time or no one else but Duo was home. It happened, but Quatre couldn't understand why Duo would sometimes take these naps. Once again he punched in the number. Perhaps after the third time the braided pilot would give up trying to get back to sleep and actually answer the phone.

Hotaru clapped her hands with amusement as the phone rang once more. This was so much fun, must more fun than going up and down the stairs. Much more fun than watching Uncle Wufei do his katas or watching Uncle Trowa play the flute. This was more fascinating than her daddy's computer.

Once more she picked up the phone only to have a voice yell from it, "Duo don't you dare hang up again!"

She blinked and held out the phone studying it. It was a strange thing… What was it? It felt smooth… It had no smell… Suddenly Hotaru realized that her gums were hurting her. She wondered…

If there was ever a time Quatre wished to bang his head on something it was now. Suddenly instead of hearing Duo, it sounded like something or someone was sucking on the phone. No doubt that Duo was probably half asleep and half awake.

"Duo! Wake up!" Quatre shouted into the phone.

The sound stopped, "Na?"

Quatre sighed, "Duo, it's Quatre."

"Cat-wa?"

"Duo… are you all right?" Quatre asked worriedly.

"Cat-wa! Cat-wa!"

Quatre frowned, what was wrong with Duo… Then he listened carefully to the babbling going on the other end. The voice didn't sound like Duo at all. In fact it sounded like a young girl's.

Quatre mentally groaned to himself, he had gotten the wrong number, "Sorry, I've gotten the wrong number. Could I talk to your daddy?"

"Da-dee?"

"Yes, or some other adult?" Quatre asked.

When he realized what he asked, he scolded himself. He was making this too difficult for the child. The child on the other hand seemed to have no problem telling him who was an adult.

"Momee?"

"Yes that right," Quatre said gently.

"Tow-a?"

"What?" Quatre blinked. Did she just say Trowa?

"Wu-fi?"

Quatre couldn't believe what he was hearing. He'd had thought he got the wrong number now he found out he might have gotten the right number after all. If that was so, who was the voice on the other line? And who were this girl's parents?

Quatre carefully asked the girl, "Could you please get your mommy or daddy?"

There was a pause and then the voice said, "Luv yoo bye-bye!" and the phone went dead.

Relena Peacecraft Darlian had just come back from her meeting to find Hotaru standing on the kitchen chair. The young woman shook her head, and briskly walked over to pick Hotaru up. As she held Hotaru up to her shoulder Relena smiled.

"You shouldn't do that Hotaru," Relena said gently, "You could have fallen and hurt yourself badly."

Hotaru smiled while she toyed with Relena's bow.

"Now what were you doing?" Relena could just imagine the trouble Hotaru had been getting into while she was gone.

Small chubby fingers undid the bow that kept Relena's hair in place.

Walking with Hotaru in her arms Relena searched for anyone else, "Where is everyone?"

At that moment Heero emerged from the basement carrying the stroller. He frowned and turned to Relena, "Did you pick up the phone?"

"No, I just got back. Why?" Relena asked.

"Trowa and Wufei left for the spaceport already," Heero explained, "And the phone rang twice. Since it stopped I thought maybe you picked it up."

Relena shook her head, "No… I don't think so…"

Hotaru squealed, "Luv yoo bye-bye!"

They both looked at Hotaru with wonderement. Hotaru, for a baby caught on to words very fast. It was one of the reasons why they took extra care to make sure swear words were not spoken in her present.

Heero sighed, "Last time I let her watch those cartoons."

"I'm sure it okay…" Relena said uncertainly.

Relena had always heard about what it was like to raise a baby, but Hotaru had proven time and time again she wasn't a normal baby.

Heero gave her a look, "She understands far too well."

"Yes…" Relena nodded in agreement, "I don't understand how she can, but she does."

"Hmmm…" Heero thought for a moment, "Nah… never mind, it was a bad idea. It's expecting too much of her. I was just wondering if maybe she knew who called.

Relena gave a small laugh, "Now that **is** asking to much of her! I swear Heero, you're more of a parent than you give yourself credit for."

"What's that suppose to mean?" Heero asked with light amusement.

"A lot of parents believe their child is the most gifted in the world," Relena answered, "And though I agree that Hotaru is gifted, she certainly couldn't have known who called."

"You're right," Heero gave her a smirk as he ran his fingers through his hair, "I'm just so use to treating her like a normal person. Full grown person."

Hotaru smiled looking from Relena to Heero, "Cat-wa! Cat-wa! Cat-wa!"

The two froze and stared at the dark-haired girl. Relena's eyes were becoming wide as saucers and Heero was just shocked. As far as they knew no one really mentioned Quatre nor had they encouraged her to say any other names.

Relena looked at Heero in surprise, "You don't think…"

"Hotaru picked up the phone," Heero murmured.

"Oh dear…"

Meanwhile on the other line Quatre also hung up the phone, it seemed like he was going to get any answers that way. He picked up his bags, getting ready to leave once he called a taxi.

"Quatre!" a voice yelled from the crowd.

The Sandrock pilot turned to see Trowa and Wufei standing in the crowd waving him over. Quatre rushed up to him, happy to see his friends after such a long time.

"I didn't tell you I was coming back," Quatre exclaimed.

"Yuy probably found out through the flight schedules," Wufei explained.

Quatre nodded, "Makes sense… Trowa… Wufei…"

As they made their way through the crowd Trowa turned, "Hmm?"

"Is there a child staying with you?" Quatre asked.

Trowa and Wufei looked at each other. They couldn't figure it out, how did Quatre know about Hotaru?

"Quatre…" Trowa looked at him strangely, "How did you know about Hotaru?"

"Hotaru?" Quatre asked.

Wufei nodded, "Yes, that's the child you're referring to, right?"

"I'm not sure," Quatre admitted, "I was trying to call home when this little girl picked up the phone. I thought I had gotten the wrong number when she started to say-"

"Tow-a," Trowa smirked.

"Wufie," Wufei shook his head.

"That's right!" Quatre exclaimed.

The three of them got into the car. Quatre sat in the front with Trowa, as Trowa gave this look to Wufei.

Wufei shrugged, "So she struck again."

"What's going on?" Quatre demanded to know.

Quatre could tell from the other boys' faces that they knew something he didn't. It was strange, because they normally wouldn't keep secrets like this from him.

Trowa sighed, "Hotaru is an experiment of Dr. J's and some mysterious colleague of his. She's technically speaking only seventeen days old, but she's physically about two years of age. Dr. J gave her to Heero to take care of until she reaches the age of twelve. Physically anyways.

Quatre had a look of horror on his face, "That's awful! Heero can't return her to Dr. J. God knows what he'll do to her!"

Wufei gave Quatre a smirk, "Who said Yuy was going to give her back?"

Quatre blinked, "So Lady Une knows?"

Once again the other two pilots gave each other a knowing look. Trowa gave this look to Wufei and Wufei sighed.

Wufei leaned forward, "Quatre…"

"Oh no…" Quatre turned around, "What happened? You normally don't call me Quatre unless it's a reunion, friend's time or something bad happens."

"Well…" Wufei admitted slowly, "It's not exactly bad. Unless Milliardo kills Yuy and we get stuck with his daughter."

"Oh… well…" Quatre nodded, "If it's just that, then it's okay. Milliardo won't kill Heero because Miss. Relena will try and stop him. If not that Heero isn't the easiest person to kill…" there was a pause, "HIS DAUGHTER?!?!?"

"I was wondering when that would sink in," Trowa murmured.

Quatre looked from Trowa to Wufei back to Trowa, "Who? When? Where? Why?"

Wufei shrugged, "Her name is now Hotaru Yuy, adopted on the day Yuy got her. Officially accepted a week after he got her, about anyhow…"

"When we were all gone," Trowa added.

Quatre looked completely stunned, "I always hoped that Heero would find family it's just…"

"You didn't expect to become an Uncle so soon?" Wufei guessed.

Quatre nodded, "Heero? Looking after a child? A girl?"

"Surprise, surprise…" Trowa said absently.

Quatre just sat back into the seat, clearly too shock to come up with anything else to say. The rest of the ride was at least an hour long. It was a very long way from the spaceport. The three men walked up the steps to the house. When they made it inside Quatre thought about everything he had been told about Hotaru. Then a strange question came to mind as he sat on the couch.

Quatre looked up, "Wufei, why did you say if Milliardo didn't kill Heero?"

"……………… Quatre…" Trowa trailed off.

Outside what looked like a normal family of three was walking home after being at the park. They looked like any normal family, and acted like any normal family, but only two of them were. Relena and Hotaru were up ahead. The Vice-Foreign Peace Minister was holding the tiny toddler in her arms, singing a song to her.

_When the skies are gray,_

_And the day seems lonely…_

_I just pick up be chin,_

_And grin and say…_

_The sun will come out tomorrow…_

Heero was walking behind the two, just watching them with a bit of amazement. He had no idea that Relena could sing or that Relena could be so motherly. It was like, for the first time he was experiencing what a family should be like. What his family would have been like if he had one. They came up the steps and to the front door. In the moonlight Hotaru was curled up in Relena's arms. Hotaru looked like a little angel with her head on Relena's chest and her dark purple hair falling over her face. Heero opened the door for them. They came into the living room to see that Quatre was on the couch with Trowa and Wufei standing beside him. The first thing that Quatre saw was Relena, holding baby Hotaru.

"Oh Allah…" Quatre murmured.

Author's Notes: Okay, so I'd admit… I'm probably making a mountain out of a molehill when it comes to Milliardo, but think about it. This is Milliardo who's thinking about his sister and his rival and a baby.

Also about Hotaru, this would be a good time to note that even though Hotaru is about two and a half, she is a senshi. We have to keep that in mind, so she's smarter and can do more… while still being a baby at the same time.

On another note, yes Alexandra would climb up the stairs and yell for someone to bring her down again. Kind of funny… when you're not the one helping her. If you haven't guessed, the song is Tomorrow from the Broadway Annie. My mom use to sing that to me when I have five you or so…

One more pilot to go! Duo!!!! What fun!


	8. Yoo're In Trowble!

Yoo're In Trowble!

Whatever Duo and Hilde had been up to on their vacation it must have been a lot because Duo, believe or not had been away for about a month. So when Duo came back from his trip with Hilde he felt ready to face anything. Even Heero if it came down to that. So, it was very little surprise to see Duo whistling to himself on his way home.

Back at the Winner's household, Quatre had gotten use to Hotaru. In fact he was quiet taken by her and even helped Heero pick out new clothes for Hotaru when she grew out of them. Though Hotaru was proving to be quite the little ragamuffin, she had yet to grow out of her baby talk, was mischievous at best when it came to Wufei and was still a child in many ways.

On that day, Heero was looking for Hotaru. He saw had doll that he thought that Hotaru might like. She had for sometime now been taken by dolls in navy blue dresses, though he didn't know why. The only reason why she didn't want any was because she claimed they were the wrong hair colour. Hotaru wanted one with blond hair, a shade darker than the first dolly she got. Speaking of which…

Heero peered into Hotaru's room, she was still sleeping in a crib, but that was only because they hadn't found a bed for her yet. It was about time she got one. Relena had been looking for beds, but she wanted to ask Hotaru what she thought. After all, Hotaru would have that bed for the rest of her life.

"The rest of her life…" Heero thought, "How long is the rest of her life? She's been growing a year a week so far."

The room hadn't changed that much in truth. Just a few more toys around on the floor than he remember and more dolls on the toy chest as well. To add to her first three dolls, which were the long hair, blond one, the brown haired one and the blacked haired one, there was also a blue haired and an aqua coloured haired one. The one he was holding would be her sixth doll. He looked around, wondering where she could be. As he stepped out of her room he looked down the hall to see Hotaru looking up at one of the closed doors.

"What are you doing?" Heero asked.

Hotaru looked at him and pointed to the door, "Door?"

"That's Duo's room," Heero stated, "You're not allowed to go in."

"Du-o?" Hotaru said slowly.

He crouched down to meet her at eye level, "Yes Duo, your Uncle Duo."

Hotaru thought about this for a minute, "Duo… Duo's door…"

Heero nodded, out of the all of the pilots, Duo's name was the easiest to say. He gave her one of those rare smiles, well… kind of rare. It was one of those smiles that he gave only to Hotaru. Hotaru giggled back and for a moment both of them were quiet.

"I have something for you," Heero said gently.

Hotaru's interest peaked, "Someting?"

The Perfect Soldier nodded, "Something, but what do you say?"

"Please?"

From behind Heero's back was a doll with long dirty blond hair wearing a dark blue dress. Hotaru squealed in delight holding out her hands as Heero gave her the doll. She squeezed it tight to her chest, swinging back and forth.

"Tank yoo! Tank yoo!" Hotaru jumped and gave Heero a big hug.

Heero, unsure of himself gently hugged her back. As much as he hated to admit it, hugs and kisses were something he still needed to get use to. As far as he could remember he had never been hugged, unless you include one of those strangling hugs from Duo that is. Without him realizing it, he was sitting on the floor with Hotaru in his lap. Her head against his chest, murmuring something he couldn't hear.

Somewhere else, far, far away in the Gate of Time, only a few of the Senshi were watching. The others were dealing with the enemy. This strange new enemy who's Dark Queen wanted to keep Crystal Tokyo from coming.

Minako sighed to herself as she watched the little scene from where she stood beside Setsuna. They had felt it save enough to not watch Hotaru all the time. Even Haruka admitted that it seemed that Heero was more over protective than she was. After all how many people fired guns when people swore in front of their child?

Minako shook her head, "Is it just me, or is there something familiar about her dolls?"

"Who knows…" Setsuna trailed off, "There had been many unexpected things happening since she first came."

"Besides three uncles and another coming their way?" Minako asked.

"Yes."

Ami watched the two with some worry. She too, like Wufei was much of a scholar, of course she was the bookworm. What bugged her was that Hotaru had never grown that fast the last time she 'died'. If not that, then what would be the effects of being in a different dimension?

"Pluto," Ami then spoke up, "What are the side effects of Hotaru being in that dimension and growing at the rate she does?"

Pluto thought about this, "Sooner or later they'll discover she still sleeps a lot. Even as she grows older, since it does take a lot of energy to do so."

"But what about the dimension in general?" Ami asked.

Minako frowned, "Why are you wondering?"

"Think about it Minako," Ami wanted to make her fears known, "Hotaru in her last life or the one before the Outers started taking care of her, was never really healthy. She got tired quickly if she did certain things."

"I suppose the same would happen in that dimension, but…" Setsuna, "Some things could change, let's just hope for the better."

They all looked at each other knowing. There had been, despite the unexpected change in Heero a blessing to all of this. It was one thing for Hotaru to be raised by her fellow scouts, but to be raised by people that had no original connection to her was another thing. Sometimes, even the Scout of Destruction and Rebirth needed a family to call her own.

"Pttf!" Hotaru pushed the bottle cup full of milk away from her.

Relena gently pushed it back to her, "Come on Hotaru… you need to drink your milk."

Hotaru stuck up her nose, "No like milk!"

"Don't you want to grow up big and strong?" Relena tried a different tactic.

"Yuck!"

Quatre walked into the kitchen to watch this. It was another thing about Hotaru they had all gotten use to. As fast as she grew, so did the changes in her taste. Hotaru had grown to hate milk, for some reason or another.

"No luck?" Quatre asked.

Relena shook her head, "No, it's like she just woke up one day and decided she doesn't like milk!"

Quatre decided it was time to use a tactic that always worked, "Hotaru, you don't want to get in trouble do you?"

"Trowble?" she repeated.

"Yes, I'm sure Heero wouldn't be happy if he heard you weren't drinking your milk."

Heero, not daddy, Heero. That's what everyone including Relena referred Heero as. It was just too strange to even think of calling Heero daddy. None of the pilots could even bring themselves to call Heero daddy. Fortunately, somewhere along the line, Hotaru got the impression that Heero and daddy were one in the same. Just like Relena and mommy was the same person.

"No like trowble," Hotaru said, "No like milk more!"

So the tactic almost always worked. They were ready to give up when Wufei came into the room. It was one of the few times one would see Wufei reading. He even had his reading glasses one. Completely into the book he was reading while drinking soymilk from a drinking box. The Chinese pilot stopped at the table and absently looked up. 

He pulled the glasses down, "What's the matter Winner? Onna?"

Relena frowned, then she looked at the untouched milk and then to Hotaru.

"Won't drink milk?" Wufei asked, "What's the matter Little Yuy?"

"Ptttf! No like milk!" Hotaru crossed her arms and pouted.

Quatre turned to Relena, "Have you tried chocolate milk?"

She nodded, "Heero, did and she ended up dumping it on Trowa."

"So that's why Barton had chocolate milk dripping from his bangs," Wufei nodded with understanding, "How about soymilk onna?"

"Soymilk?" Relena and Quatre repeated at the same time.

Wufei just rolled his eyes as he made his way towards the fridge. Knowing that this had something to do with her, Hotaru turned to see what Wufei was doing. All of the Gundam pilots had their own tastes, and so each one had their own stock of something. For some, to touch that would mean, depending on the pilot certain death. Wufei reached back into the fridge for his own stock. He pulled out a white carton with Chinese writing on it. Took another bottle cup and poured some into it before giving to Hotaru. Hotaru wrinkled her nose and sniffed it before sniffing the bottle that just had milk. She then slowly took the soymilk and sucked. Hotaru gave a small smile before drinking the rest of the soymilk. Relena and Quatre looked at Wufei in surprise.

Wufei shrugged, "It comes from plants not a cow. So it tastes a bit different, but it'll still give her the nutrition she needs. There's more in the fridge if you need any."

"Thank you," Relena smiled as she watched Hotaru drink up happily.

~ Half an Hour Later~

Duo was by all means in no hurry to come back home. When he finally did reach back home though it was late afternoon.

Duo bounded into the room with his traditional greeting, "GUYS! I'M HO-"

He stopped in mid-sentence at the scene before him. In the main hall where everyone came in was a long, spiraling, marble staircase. It was the scene happening on those stairs that caught his attention. On the stairs sat a little girl he'd judge to be about four or so. She had shoulder length, dark purple hair that contrasted with her pale skin. In truth the girl was incredibility cute in her yellow shirt and baby pink overalls, not looking at him, but looking down causing her hair to fall over her face. The 'girl' as Duo had dubbed her was holding a doll in a dark blue dress by the hair and was using safety scissors to cut the same hair. She didn't act like anything was wrong, instead she was humming to herself as she gave her doll the haircut. If it weren't for the fact the keys worked, Duo would have sworn he stepped into the wrong house.

As he watched this scene Duo muttered to himself, "This is a disturbing scene to come home to…"

"Duo, you're back," Trowa walked into the main hallway.

It was clear that Trowa didn't notice the little girl, since his eyes didn't land anywhere near her. Duo wondered for a brief moment if he was just seeing things.

"Uh, yea…" Duo pointed to behind Trowa, "Trowa, who's the kid?"

Trowa looked over his shoulder, "Hotaru! You know you aren't suppose to be cutting your doll's hair."

"Haircut," Hotaru looked up and smiled.

"No, Hotaru," Trowa shook his head, "You aren't even suppose to have scissors, not have you cut your blue-haired doll."

Hotaru turned away with her doll.

"Hotaru… scissors are for paper, not for cutting doll's hair," Trowa held out a hand, "Give me those scissors."

"No, want cut dolly's hair. She need haircut," Hotaru pouted.

The two men looked at the doll's hair, which was now half-cut. So now one half was really short and the other half was long.

Duo tapped Trowa on the shoulder, "Trowa, who is she and who in their right mind let you guys take care of her?"

"Her name is Hotaru," Trowa said calmly.

In more ways than one, Trowa would this slightly amusing. After all, Duo was about to get the shock of his life. Then he remembered about Hotaru and the doll.

Trowa turned back to Hotaru, "Hotaru, give me those scissors, or else I'll tell Heero," he gave her a look.

Hotaru blinked, pouted and gave Trowa the scissors.

Duo groaned, "Great! You mean Heero has all ready scarred her for life? Who's bright idea was it to expose her to the Perfect Soldier? The poor girl is going to be traumatized for life! She'll probably be running and screaming when he walks through the door! The girl is gonna need a physiatrist now! She-"

Trowa just stood there and let Duo rant. Though it was quite tempting to stop Duo right there and pointed out that Hotaru was Heero's daughter. That this so-called girl would just giggle each time her father shot his gun.

Duo brought him out of his thoughts, "TROWA! SHE'S GONNA HAVE NIGHTMARES FOR LIFE BECAUSE OF THAT TIGGER-HAPPY PHYSCHO!"

"Maxwell, it hasn't even been five minutes and you're already too loud," Wufei stated as he walked down the stairs, careful not to step on Hotaru.

"AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO SEES SOMETHING WRONG WITH ALL OF THIS?" Duo yelled on the top of his lungs.

Wufei just raised an eyebrow at him and looked at Trowa. He noticed that Trowa was holding a pair of scissors and Hotaru was looking at them with keen interest.

"Barton, I suggest you raise those things up a bit higher because Hotaru wants them," Wufei commented.

Trowa crossed his arms, "Duo, a lots happened while you were gone."

"I can see that!" Duo snapped, "But the kid!"

"She's staying with us," Wufei explained.

Duo just threw up his hands, "Who is the parent crazy enough to leave her with us?"

"She's………" Trowa stopped for a moment, "Adopted."

He stopped, "Oh… so she's staying here because of that. Okay."

Adopted Duo could do, after all he was a war orphan himself, so it wasn't too unbelievable to him. Maybe except that it was someone he knew.

Duo thought for a minute, "Sally? Being a doctor and all she must have seen orphans before."

They both shook their heads.

"Noin?"

"No."

"Milliardo?"

"No."

"Hilde?"

Trowa gave him a look, "Duo, you've been with Hilde for the past month. How could she have adopted a kid?"

"Hey, anything could happen right?" Duo shrugged, "It would explain why the kid is staying with you. At least until she got back… Uh… Lady Une?"

"No."

"Relena?"

"No."

"Catherine?"

"No."

"Dorothy?"

"Maxwell!"

Duo took a step back, "What? From the way she's looking at those scissors right now it could be possible. So when is he or she picking her up."

Wufei looked at him, "Maxwell, she's staying here… permanently."

"Ah…" Duo looked like a light bulb had clicked over his head, "Quatre then! It figures, guy's got a big heart."

"Sorry Duo, but no," Trowa shook his head wondering if they should enlighten Duo.

"Uh… I doubt it would be Wu-man," Duo said.

Wufei gave him a look, "Maxwell I'd rather be burned alive than be a father now."

"Right," Duo said, "Trowa?"

Trowa shook his head.

Duo scratched his head, "Then who is it?"

It was quite clear at that point that Duo wasn't even going to consider Heero. Then again, who would? Heero was probably the furthest from his mind and it was time for Wufei and Trowa to enlighten him.

Trowa turned to Hotaru, "Hotaru why don't you introduce yourself to your Uncle Duo."

"Duo?" Hotaru said, "That Duo?" she pointed to him.

Duo grinned, "Yep! I may run and I may hide but Duo Maxwell never lies!"

Hotaru got up from her seat and smiled, "Ho-tar-u Yuy."

"Okay…" Duo nodded, "I thought you said it was one of us."

The other two reframed themselves from hitting their heads on their wall. It was clear Duo was going to be dense. Duo at the moment was thinking of any Yuy, but Heero Yuy. Wufei slowly walked up to Duo, and for a moment Duo thought he did something to anger the other pilot. 

Instead Wufei put a hand on Duo's shoulder and simply said, "Duo-"

"Oh no…" Duo backed off, "Wufei when you say my first name, something's wrong, and you're scaring me."

"Duo, she's Yuy's daughter," Wufei then added after a pause, "Heero Yuy's daughter."

Duo stared at Wufei blankly and for a few minutes all was quiet. For a moment Trowa feared they had given the braided pilot a huge shock.

Duo suddenly laughed, "Oh, that was good one Wu-man! For a minute I really did consider the kid being Heero's daughter!" he grinned, "Really Wufei, did you think I fall for something as crazy as that?"

Wufei murmured so only Trowa would hear, "Was I ever in that much of self-denial?"

"Wouldn't know…" Trowa whispered.

Wufei shook his head, "Maxwell, I'm being serious here. Hotaru really is Heero's daughter."

"Come on Wufei, give it up," Duo grinned, "Come Hotaru, tell your Uncle Wufei here to give it up."

Hotaru looked really confused herself; she knew that Heero was her daddy.

Trowa sighed, "Duo… its no joke."

Duo stopped laughing and shook his head, "Come on! Stop with the funny business and tell me who in the **hell** is this girl's parents!"

Without a warning to Duo, the other two Gundam pilots braced themselves and Hotaru covered her ears as a gunshot ran through out the house. She lifted her hands from her ears in time to see Heero storming down into the main hallway.

"I thought I said-" Heero stopped in mid-stride, "Oh, it was you. Fine, you didn't know but-" he pointed his gun at Duo, "Swear in front of Hotaru again and I will kill you."

Hotaru jumped of from her seat, "DADEE!"

She took off in a running jump and landed into Heero's arms who caught her without any trouble. Heero smiled as she curled up in his arms.

She held up her doll, "Dolly want haircut?"

"Hotaru," Heero sighed with amusement, "You just got her."

"Now that," Hotaru pouted, "But haircut."

Now Duo jaw looked like it was going to go through the floor. He stared at Heero, and then at Hotaru and then back at Heero. Heero was smiling, at a kid who jumped into his arms. The girl called him daddy.

"S-s-she's H-Heero's d-d-daughter?" Duo pointed at Heero.

"That's what we've been trying to tell you Maxwell," Wufei said.

Duo nodded, "Yea, okay… So Heero's a daddy… He's smiling… He's actually happy for once… He's not threatening to kill her…"

He looked back at Hotaru who had her head on Heero's shoulder.

Duo nodded to himself, "I'm gone for a month and Heero becomes a daddy…"

THUMP

Everyone, including Hotaru looked at the floor. The God of Death himself had fainted dead away at the idea of Heero being a father.

Hotaru looked at Heero in the eye, "Duo go boom."

Author's Notes: I doubt in my life that Duo would ever be really dense but… If I were Duo I would think of anyone but Heero. Let's face it; in the beginning before this, you couldn't really see Heero as the fatherly type. Not with Hotaru anyways…

Anyhow… All of the pilots know! It's just the fact of all the nice trouble she could get herself into. Now the only thing they have to worry about is raising Hotaru, Milliardo, and Dr. J and his colleague. Well, they don't have to worry about Dr. J, but they don't know that.


	9. Shadow and Neo; Light and Dark

Shadow and Neo; Light and Dark

It was another day, another morning at the home of the famous (infamous) Gundam pilots. At least it was just another day with a few changes that revolved around one Hotaru Yuy. At the physical age of five years Hotaru changed in small and big ways. There was still the little girl they all knew and cared for. (Asking everyone but Heero to say love was asking a bit much.) Hotaru could now speak in full sentences, which was better than most five-year olds. Of course the guys wouldn't know since Hotaru was the only five-year old they ever needed to take care of. She could now walk and go up and down the stairs by herself. This was a relief to the few that had to endure her climbing up the stairs and yelling for someone to help her down.

Trowa was putting on the coffee pot that morning. Normally it was something Heero would do, but Heero would now be spending his mornings helping Hotaru get ready for the day. He shook his head at the thought of it all. Heero was taking is new role of fatherhood seriously. Then again, the rest of the pilots including Duo were taking the role of being her Uncles seriously. Even Relena had gotten into the stream of things. The next set of people to come down was Wufei, and Heero followed by Hotaru. She merrily skipped along a head of her father. Yes, father, it took some time on their part, but now Heero was officially the father. Her daddy.

Hotaru smiled up at Trowa, "Morning Uncle Trowa!"

"Good morning Hotaru," Trowa smiled down at her, "What would you like today?"

"Anything that's not made by Uncle Duo," she answered solemnly.

Wufei choked back at laugh as he reached for his tealeaves on the top shelf. Heero smirked at her answer, while Trowa just shook his head and smiled a bit more. Ah… the innocence of childhood. The ability to be blunt about something and get away with it. It made all of them wonder if they were ever that ah… tack.

Heero lifted her up onto her booster seat, "When Duo, Quatre and Relena come down we'll have pancakes."

"Yay! Pancakes!" Hotaru squealed with delight, "I hope Mommy, Uncle Duo and Uncle Quatre hurry."

Trowa and Wufei saw Heero winced when Hotaru said 'mommy'. It was the little problem they had. No matter how much they tried to explain this to Hotaru, Relena was mommy. No one, not even Heero would call her mommy, not when there was Milliardo to deal with. Even then there was… Goddamn to hell… The media, the tabloids and reporters. They would have to field day with this. Also it wasn't like Relena couldn't look after Hotaru, in fact in some ways Relena had to be there. Heero could not keep Hotaru unless there were two people looking after her. He put Relena had joint custody, so she stays. Besides, Hotaru was a girl and girls needed a female role model.

A few minutes later Quatre, Duo and Relena entered the kitchen. Duo started getting up earlier as he found Hotaru's antics every morning amusing at best. Though one would doubt her comment about his cooking would amuse him.

"Morning Uncle Quatre. Uncle Duo. Mommy," Hotaru waved from her seat.

"Morning Squirt," Duo grinned.

"Don't like Squirt, like Hotaru better," Hotaru pouted.

Relena smiled, "Good morning Hotaru. You've gotten bigger today."

"Uh huh… I don't fit into that green overalls anymore," Hotaru nodded.

Heero sighed, "We're going to need to go shopping again won't we?"

"Probably," Relena answered, "How about I take her in the evening?"

"Another meeting? If that's the case I could take her in the afternoon," Heero answered.

"And I'll go with Heero," Duo grinned.

Wufei raised a brow, "Then I'm coming too, knowing you Maxwell you'll do something we'll regret later."

Duo looked at the Chinese pilot with mock innocence, "Me? Now what possible trouble could I get myself into?"

Everyone including Hotaru just stared at him as if to say, 'you're joking right?'. There was something seriously wrong when even a five-year old looked at Duo like that.

At Preventers HQ Noin was reporting back to Lady Une after her and Milliardo's last mission was over. Lady Une smiled as she motioned for Luceriza Noin Peacecraft into her office. The two had been married for two years, and were perfect for each other. Noin nodded at her before going into a brief overall of how the mission went. When she was done Lady Une leaned back into her chair with a thoughtful expression on her face.

"Good job Preventer Fire," Lady Une answered back.

Noin nodded back, "You'll get a full report on your desk tomorrow morning," she then smiled, "Right now, Milliardo wants to head back home and see how his sister is doing."

Lady Une kept as straight face as Noin said this. Her face looking more thoughtful than before. How was she going to tell Noin that Relena wasn't at home without having the problem was explaining Hotaru?

"I heard Relena decided to live somewhere else for awhile," Lady Une said carefully, "To get away from the media."

"Oh? That makes sense," Noin said, "Then she'll be able to have some peace and quiet."

Lady Une nodded, "Right. Is there anything else?"

Noin paused for a moment, "Well, I was wondering. Milliardo has been working a bit too hard lately. I was hoping maybe we could go on a week shore leave."

A week of delay, enough to just get prepare for the fireworks that will fly. 

"Why not?" Lady Une mused, "You two need more time to yourselves after all. After a good rest both you and Milliardo will be ready to handle anything."

As afternoon came, the talks going on within the house shifted from everyday work to the one thing no one had given any thought until now; Hotaru's education. After all, up until little over a month ago Hotaru was no more than a baby. Now she was a five year old and most five year olds went to kindergarten.

"She'll need to be home schooled," Heero mused.

Quatre looked at him, "And have the six of us teach her? Besides the usual things what on Earth would we teach her?"

The five pilots looked at each other. It was a bit after lunch and Hotaru was having her afternoon nap, leaving them time to talk. Heero wanted the best for his little girl, but the question was how would they go about doing this?

Duo piped up, "I think the question is do we teach her or do we train her?"

"This time does not need soldiers," Trowa said slowly.

Heero nodded, "Yes, but…" he stopped, "In order to keep her, she'll need to learn how to defend herself. We can't always be there to keep her safe, it's just not possible."

Quatre sighed, "I hate to admit it, but Heero's right. In order to keep Hotaru, she'll have to learn how to fight."

Wufei shrugged, "Will do, it's not like we can't do both. Strengthen her mind and body."

"Speaking of body…" Quatre mused, "Don't you think sooner or later she'll need to see a doctor? After all we don't know what effect the experiments will do to her."

With that they started on a whole new topic of conversation. Who'd knew there would be so much to talk about when it came to Hotaru? To five guys who never looked after a goldfish much less a child, a lot.

While they were talking about her future, Hotaru was wandering the halls of the house. Before she was never allowed out of their sight and couldn't get far. Now there was a whole new world of possibilities. Of course, they thought she was asleep, then again what kid went to sleep when the adult turned his back? Not many.

At the end of one certain hallway there were large double doors. One of the doors was opened a crack. Curious, she toddled over and pulled the door. When she looked inside; what she saw amazed her. There, inside the huge room were rows and rows, shelves upon shelves of books. Hotaru had found the library. With one finger on her lips she looked up at the bookshelves as she walked backwards to take everything in. There were even small bookshelves with dusty books. She looked at one of them carefully before pulling a book out. Hotaru blew the dust off. The dust filled the air causing her to cough. The cover said Children's Poetry. Still staring at the cover Hotaru sat down on a small chair that looked like it hadn't been used for a long time. She opened the book and peered at the words written within.

Duo was searching with high and low with the other pilots looking for Hotaru. When Heero went upstairs to get Hotaru for their shopping trip he discovered she wasn't there at all. The idea that she was wandering around the house worried all of them. Not all of the rooms were holding safe things. As he was checking all of the rooms calling out her name Duo heard a small voice. It was a childish voice, rhyming and slow. It was coming from the library. He poked his head in and looked around. The voice was Hotaru's all right, but where was she? He stepped it, following the sound. When he found her, she was sitting in a small chair. Probably from Quatre's childhood days. She looked down at a book, turning the pages slowly. She said aloud:

_Hope is a thing with feathers,_

_That perches in the soul,_

_And sings the tunes without the words,_

_And never stops at all._

_And in the sweetest gale is heard;_

_And sore must be the storm._

_That could abash this little bird,_

_That kept so many warm._

_I've heard in the strangest lands;_

_And on the chilliest seas._

_Yet never, in extremity,_

_It asked a crumb of me._

If Duo thought his jaw had dropped at the idea of Heero being a daddy and it was certainly all the way in China by now! Hotaru was reading, and not just reading. She was reading poetry. Most kids hated to read poetry, but she was reading it. He felt a tap on his shoulder; he turned to see Heero there.

"She's all right?" Heero looked at her.

Duo nodded, "Remember how we're talking about her education?"

"Yea?"

"Well… I don't think we'll have to worry about it too much," Duo pointed to Hotaru, "She just read a whole poem by herself. No joke!"

Heero looked at Duo and then at Hotaru.

Hotaru soon realized that she wasn't alone at all. She looked up from her book and smiled. Running up to Heero she showed him the book.

"That's nice Hotaru," Heero bended down, "Do you know what it says?"

"Hope is the Thing With Feathers by Emily Dickinson." 

Heero looked at the page she turned to. Sure enough it was the poem Hope is the Thing With Feathers by Emily Dickinson. He stared at her in shock, there was no way she could have done that. Despite that fact that Heero didn't know much about children he did know that five year olds could not read that well. Yet, here Hotaru was, reading by herself.

Duo leaned over Heero's shoulder, "Now I really want to know what they did to her!"

"Hn," Heero picked her up.

Hotaru had discovered a new thing, the joy of reading for the first time. How she knew how to read was unknown the fact was she could read and read she did. While Wufei, Duo, Hotaru and Heero were driving to the mall. Hotaru was sitting in the backseat reading poems aloud.

An hour, thirty minutes and two poems later Hotaru was rocking on her heels. Her daddy was looking through a stack of clothing looking for something that would not only fit but would also look good on her. The hardest thing about shopping for Hotaru was looking for clothes that would look nice but weren't dark. Hotaru, as Heero first thought before was made for dark colours. Hotaru had by then read the book ten times back and front. She wasn't the only one bored, by the time ten minutes had passed Duo was also bored out of his mind.

Heero looked over his shoulder, "Duo, I'm going off to pay for this stuff. Look after Hotaru, Wufei is at the bookstore looking for some books for her."

"Gotcha Heero," Duo saluted him.

"Don't lose her."

Duo gave Heero a grin, "I won't…"

When Heero was out of sight Duo's grin became wider. He had a couple of thoughts going through his head. After all, he was Hotaru's Uncle and as her Uncle he should make sure that she has everything a kid should have.

Duo tugged at her arm, "Come on Hotaru, let's go."

"But I thought we have to stay here," Hotaru looked confused.

"Don't worry, as long as you're with me we're golden," Duo grinned as he picked her up and walked off.

"Where we're going?"

"You'll see…"

A few minutes later Wufei and Heero met back at where Duo and Hotaru were suppose to be. They stared at each other, one with clothes and another with books. There was no Duo and no Hotaru. There wasn't a hair or hide of either of them. 

Outside the mall everyone's head turned a two loud voices yelled, "MAXWELL!" rang throughout the parking lot.

Hotaru put her small hand onto the window panel as she peered inside the room. Six Labrador puppies were tumbling all over each other like large pillows of yellow and black fur. She giggled at their antics as they whined and whimpered and barked.

"Can I have two?" Hotaru asked as she bends backward to look at Duo.

Duo shrugged, "Why not? Which ones?"

Hotaru stood up on her tiptoes, "Uh… That one and that one!"

Duo nodded, "A black one and yellow one? Okay. Hey Max! Two pups, those ones!"

A teenage boy walked up to them and peered in.

"The two girls huh? Sure it's okay?" Max knew Duo, and Duo always was in trouble.

Duo grinned, "They're for my niece, Hotaru."

"Either the father is gonna like you or hate your guts," Max sighed as he wadded through the puppies to pick up the two that Hotaru wanted.

Max handed the two the Hotaru. She laughed as the two licked her face enthusiastically. The pet handler then took a couple of forms and filled them out. Duo looked around the store to pick out two leashes, dog toys, poop and scoop, brushes, etc…

Max absently asked, "What's their names kid?"

"Uh…" Hotaru put a finger to her lips, "Uh… Shadow and Neo!"

"Right, black is Shadow and the yellow is Neo," Max looked up, "Unless you have a weird sense of humor like your Uncle Duo and it's the other way around."

"Hey!" Duo exclaimed.

Duo put collars on both of the dogs and hooked on the leashes. The puppies were running around, happy to be free of their cage. Trying to reach his wallet, Duo handed the leashes to Hotaru.

Max looked at him, "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Sure," Duo thumbed through his wallet, "Why not?"

Hotaru giggled at the puppies as they ran circles around each other. Suddenly they saw something. Without warning both dogs shot off like a rocket out of the shop. Dragging poor Hotaru along for the ride.

"Ahhhh!" Hotaru screamed.

Duo turned, "Hotaru!"

"That's why not," Max, stated as he watch her run off. He looked at Duo, "You know, you lose the kid, the mother is gonna kill you."

"The mother?" Duo panicked, "Heero is gonna shoot me!"

"So what would you like on your tombstone?"

Wufei growled, he was going to kill Maxwell. That is if Heero didn't get to him first. They've been searching for a good twenty minutes and no sign of them. If Duo lost Hotaru heads were going to roll.

"UNNNNCCCCLLLLEEEE WUUUFFFFEEEEIIII!" a young voice screamed out.

Wufei looked in the direction of the scream to see Hotaru being pulled around by two puppies of Lab breeding. As the two pups rushed past him Wufei reached out and tightly grabbed the leashes. The pups fell back and Hotaru fell forward just in time to be caught by the arms of her father. Hotaru smiled happily as she climbed up into Heero's arms.

"Look! Look! Daddy! Uncle Duo got me puppies. The black one's name is Shadow and the yellow one is Neo," Hotaru smiled, "Aren't they cute?"

At that moment Duo chose to show up, running up to them and out of breath. Duo took in deep breaths.

"Look, Heero, I can explain," Duo panted.

Heero glared at him, "You got her puppies?"

Duo gave him an innocent grin; "It seemed like a good idea at the time. I mean, what kid doesn't have a dog?"

"You got her two Maxwell," Wufei growled, "And if I remember correctly these dogs grow up to be very big."

"It's not that bad."

"This is the last time we're leaving you alone with Hotaru," Wufei glared at the braided pilot.

Heero nodded, "And while we're on the subject. Since you got her the dogs, you're helping her take care of them, which means…"

"You're the one picking up their litter," Wufei finished.

Duo's face dropped, "Aw man!"

Hotaru, who was obvious to all of this crawled down from Heero's arms. She grinned as she hugged her two new pets.

Author's Notes: I couldn't help myself! Giving Hotaru those dogs was the most enjoyable thing I've written so far. It's priceless really. By the way you're lucking I wrote this on my vacation on my dad's laptop. So there, and I have bit and pieces of other chapters as well. I just couldn't help it. I was sitting outside a restaurant that day and saw two big labs one black and one yellow. The thought of Hotaru owning such big dogs just tickled me. So it won't be the last you'll hear of them.


	10. The Education of Hotaru

The Education of Hotaru

With the realization that Hotaru's mental knowledge had all ready out striped what they were expecting the pilots and Relena weren't going to waste any time in teaching her. Each of them would have her to themselves to teach for a few hours on their given day. Speaking of mental ability Hotaru had changed a bit since the puppy incident. She was still the sweet and adorable Hotaru, while there were times she sounded older. In between her 'lessons' so to speak Hotaru would be free to practice and do whatever she wished. This was spent playing with her 'parents', uncles or puppies, training Shadow and Neo and reading.

As for what she would be taught it was divided between them depending on how much time they had. Though with Hotaru reading anything under the sun it seemed that herself would do most of the learning. With the fact she would literary read anything Quatre and Heero spent some time going through the library taking out anything they didn't want Hotaru to read. Mainly the romantic novels that were favorites of Quatre's sisters were the first ones to go. With that Quatre also spent time to update the library with books ranging from ten years of age (since anything below that would be an insult to Hotaru's intelligence) to young adults. Hopefully it would keep her busy for a while.

Now that the library was set, it was time to introduce Hotaru to learning. Heero found Hotaru in the library, which seemed to be one of her regular haunts. As Duo would so often put it, as regular as it could be for a person who was going to spend to rest of her life at home. It was probably one of the few things that did get to the pilots. The rest of her life, so far it seemed that she was growing a year a week. How long was the rest of her life? He found her sitting in a lavender beanbag chair, kindly provided by Sally. When Sally found out about Hotaru through Wufei, she immediately offered to give Hotaru her check ups.

As far as lessons would go, Heero would teach her languages. She was all ready slightly familiar with Japanese so some of the work was done for him. On top of that he would be teaching her his specialty, guns. At first everyone thought it would take some convincing to get Relena to let the pilots to train Hotaru, but it didn't. Relena was no fool when it came to realities of Hotaru's life. The only way to protect her was by teaching her the skills to defend herself from danger or at least until help came. In return though Relena when she had time would teach Hotaru manners, diplomat skills and politics. Duo would teach geography and teach her about stealth. The Deathscythe pilot bragged that by the time he was finished Hotaru would be able to sneak up on her old man and he wouldn't know it. The stealth part was fine, but Heero didn't appreciate being called an old man. Trowa would be working on some acrobatics skills that would hopefully get her out of tight spots and he would be taking care of her science education. Quatre would teach her strategic skills, mostly to be done through games and puzzles and help her with the writing part of her English. It was clear that she had the reading down pact. Finally there was Wufei; he would look after teaching her hand-to-hand combat and math.

There were other odds and ends to take care of, but they figured they would deal with it when they came to it. With all of them working together Hotaru could be better than all of them, while still keeping her childhood and life. What she could be when she grew up would be completely up to her. Though the guys wouldn't have mind if she decided on being a Preventer.

Currently Hotaru was completely into the book she was read. Slowly turning the pages, not paying any attention to the world around her. Heero glanced at the title, Alice Through the Looking Glass. He remembered now, she read Alice in Wonderland yesterday.

"Hotaru," he said softly.

Hotaru looked up from her book, "Yes Daddy?"

He squatted to meet her at eye level, "Hotaru, remember when I told you, you were going to be home schooled?"

"Yes," Hotaru nodded, "I get to learn everything at home."

"That's right, but it's also training of sorts," Heero told her, "Tomorrow you're going to start your training. I want you to listen very carefully."

Hotaru blinked, "I always listen Daddy. Why do I have to listen more?"

How was Heero going to explain this? He had promised himself when he accepted Hotaru that he wouldn't dress this up in any sugar stories. Heero was going to tell the truth, even if it killed him. Heero took Hotaru and pulled her into a hug.

Heero took in a deep breath, "Hotaru, I got you from a man some time ago. You were… created I guess to be a Perfect Soldier."

"What's a Perfect Soldier?" Hotaru asked.

"A Perfect Soldier is someone trained from a very young age to follow orders and kill whoever they are ordered to kill," Heero explained.

"That's bad… I don't want to do that," Hotaru stuck out her tongue.

"No, I don't want that neither," Heero pulled her closer, "That's why we're training you. Our way Hotaru, so that this man and his colleague won't take you away."

"Won't take me away," Hotaru repeated, "I don't want to be taken away. So I be a good girl and train."

"That's right," Heero nodded, "Be a good girl."

It was so strange in the beginning he would have never hugged her like this. Now he was hugging her as if at any moment Hotaru was going to disappear. It was like Hotaru was his lifeline to humanity; then again she helped him discover his humanity. If she was taken away what would happen to him? Hotaru curled up on his chest; she didn't want to lose her daddy. Yet, she couldn't shake this feeling that if she didn't leave she would lose him. Being as young as she was though, she didn't fully understand the meaning of it all. Not yet anyways.

From the Gates of Time Pluto watched worried. Father and daughter were growing closer, closer than she ever expected. The Princess would never want these two to be teared apart, but Crystal Tokyo would never come to pass without all of the scouts. Strange, Pluto thought as she watched the two. Both Heero and Hotaru had not had a normal childhood. Their childhoods had been sad, full of duty and death. She remembered how she came to choose Heero. Pluto had been looking into the Gates, she asked for help, for someone to protect Hotaru and to raise her. Yet they still had to be allowed to take Hotaru back in order for Crystal Tokyo to exist. That's when Heero's image came into her view. She did some research and found that Heero was single minded when it came to missions, she figured that was why the Gates showed him to her. Now she was rethinking that, what if she was wrong? What if there was another reason for the Gates showing Heero to her?

She looked at the Gates again. Now the serious talk about training was done and Hotaru was happy again. Now Heero was sitting down in a large chair with Hotaru on his lap. Instead of Hotaru finishing the book, Heero was reading to her aloud. Whatever would come to pass would come to pass; only time would tell. Not even the Guardian of Time herself knew everything.

That evening in the Living Room Hotaru was standing in front of her two puppies. She held a treat up high where both puppies could see it. She was practicing some things that Trowa had taught her.

"Shadow. Neo. Sit!" she commanded.

As one both of them sat on their haunches. Though it may sound odd to say this about two dogs. Both Labs adored their young mistress and would do anything for her. In return Hotaru would shower them with hugs, kisses and treats.

Hotaru patted them both, "Good puppies! You're really smart."

She turned to Trowa who was sitting there reading a newspaper. It was his turn to watch Hotaru for the evening.

"Uncle Trowa," Hotaru called out.

Trowa lowered the newspaper, "Yes?"

"Can I take Shadow and Neo with me to home school?" Hotaru asked.

"As long as they're not in the way. You'll have to ask your other uncles and your father and Relena," Trowa answered.

Hotaru looked innocently at him, "Uncle Trowa, why do you call daddy, daddy, but mommy Relena?"

Trowa answered, "Because that's her name."

"But you never call her mommy," Hotaru pointed out.

"Because she isn't your mommy," Trowa explained.

"Why not?"

"Because it's just your daddy that adopted you," Trowa didn't even want to try to hide the fact she was adopted. Besides the idea of being adopted didn't bother Hotaru at all.

"But she looks after me right? She also adopted me so she's my mommy," Hotaru pointed out.

Trowa tried to come up with an argument for that, but found that he couldn't. After all, Relena did have joint custody of Hotaru. How was he going to explain to her the only reason why everyone avoided calling Relena mother was because her brother would have a fit. The same brother that was suppose to be Hotaru's sixth uncle. Of course, no one had bother to tell her about Milliardo except the few mentions when she was a baby, which they doubted she remembered. After all why encourage her to look for trouble?

"Okay," Trowa admitted, "I'm stuck at that one. It's just that we're not use to thinking of Relena as a mother."

"Oh………" Hotaru drawn out, "Okay."

Trowa shook his head as he went back to his newspaper. He was sure they were making mountain of a molehill. Then again, never before had Heero given Milliardo a reason to assume the worse.

Author's Note: Geez that was short. It was more of sweet than funny and I'm starting to get the feeling that it's somewhat pointless filler. I could of continued with this but I didn't. Maybe in some other chapter I'll let you see what her lessons are like. As for the forever mentioning of Milliardo, guess what? Hotaru is finally going to meet her uncle in the next chapter!


	11. Nightmares and Milliardo

Milliardo and Nightmares

Hotaru's room once again slowly changed to suit her growing years. The baby change table was replaced by a small child size rocking chair. More dolls had been added and the stuff cats now have their place on the shelves. The crib had been replaced with a bed with a white canopy with a hue of purple. On the far end of the room were two small doggie beds for Shadow and Neo and doggie toys cluttered that end of the room. There was also a desk with a laptop. Naturally Heero provided the laptop, and Hotaru didn't just work on it. She did several things, like go on the Internet. Another week passed and it was about time Hotaru got her own bed. Six years old and there were times it was hard to believe she was ever a baby. Unfortunately for Heero, the same day they got the new bed was the same night the first nightmare came. Cribs maybe big and comfy, but they were also easier to get out of.

It was dark and foggy; it was the kind of endless fog where you didn't know where it started or where it ended. For all the little girl knew the foggy plane might not have an end. It wasn't even the gray or white mist that normally came with a fog. Instead it was a dark cloud that seemed to hover to the ground. She knew she had to go. She couldn't stay any longer there were those that needed her and yet she didn't want to leave neither. The girl ran, she ran as far as her legs could carry her. Slowly the dark fog parted to reveal a young teenage girl. The teenage girl was dressed in a dark purple dress that flowed down, touching the ground and spreading out around her. Straps of small stringed beads held the dress up. Little Hotaru could not see the older girl's face or any features. Only the steady glow of a purple 'h' looking kind of like a scythe from her forehead could be seen.

The air seemed to echo with voices.

_Must grow up. Must leave. Duty. Destiny. Life. Death._

Glittering, crystal tears seemed to flow down the older girl's hidden face. They splashed onto the ground. For each splash it sounded like crystal was shattering.

_Must grow up. Must leave. Must go back. Go back._

Hotaru covered her ears, "I don't want to leave! They're bad people! I'm not going back! I want to stay with my daddy, my mommy and my uncles!"

_Darkness. Death._

The tears came faster; the sound of crystal shattering became louder. Everything around the mysterious girl and Hotaru shattered like glass. There was still the void of nothingness only now there were bodies. Of people Hotaru was sure she had never seen before but felt familiar. Many were in sailor outfits, ripped and torn. They were bleeding and they were beaten. Hotaru was becoming scared; very scared she knew this could happen. She didn't want these people to die, but who were they?

_It will burn. Must go back, go back and fight._

"No, I don't want to fight," Hotaru whimpered, "I need to stay with my daddy."

_Duty first. Destiny forever._

The scene shattered again, only this time Hotaru saw a city. A city made completely crystal. It was burning; flames leaped around the crystal city. The light from the flames reflected off the crystal creating a morbid kind of dance. The highest flames were around the tall crystal tower in the middle. They were like banshees, with their wild hair dancing around a fragile fairy. The mysterious girl that Hotaru had forgotten until now raised a staff with a wicked blade into the air. Power of dark light came down from the sky, striking the fire banshees. Killing them, making them go away. Leaving only the city of crystal.

_To save a future for us all. Must go back._

"No!" Hotaru was crying.

The crystal city faded from view something darker took its place. It was her home; only it looked darker and twisted. There were no creamy white wallpaper only dark browns and blacks. The hallways weren't straight, only crooked.

"Daddy? Mommy? Uncle Duo? Uncle Trowa?" Hotaru called out as she stepped forward.

Something squished underneath her feet. She lifted up one foot to see something dark red sticky stuff in a puddle on the floor. Something wasn't right. Shrieks and howls filled the air; Hotaru turned quickly expecting to see something jump out at her. Without another thought she ran down the hallway to where the living room was suppose to be. There was a dim light ahead, that's where everyone is!

"Mommy! Daddy!" Hotaru ran in.

She froze, there before her was a huge dark thing. Like a shadow, only it had spikes and horns and sharp teeth dripping with something dark and sticky. Slowly it came towards her.  She looked passed the monster to see people sitting in the shadows. Though she couldn't see them clearly Hotaru was sure they were her family. Why weren't they moving? Didn't' they see the monster? Hotaru looked around for the mysterious girl, hoping the girl would save her. She saw the girl, slumped over in a corner bleeding. Seeing the girl, Hotaru screamed.

_Could it be I'm growing up too fast?_

Heero ran down the hallway to where Hotaru's room was. It was three o'clock in the morning when he heard her scream. He ran, that was the only thing he could think of. Get to her as fast as possible. Heero was only briefly aware that the others including Relena was right behind him. The Perfect Soldier burst into Hotaru's room. She was in her bed thrashing about, screaming and crying. With a few large strides Heero was by her side in a heartbeat holding her and trying to calm her down.

"It's okay Hotaru. It was only a nightmare," Heero stroked her hair as she sobbed on his shirt.

Hotaru shook her head, "I don't wanna leave. I don't want people to get hurt."

"No one's making you leave Firefly," Heero rocked her slowly, "No one will get hurt. I won't let that happen."

Hotaru murmured, "You promise?"

"I promise," Heero repeated, "No one is going to come and take you away."

Hotaru fell asleep with that promise and soon she forgot about the girl, the crystal city, the strangers that were hurt and the dark shadow monster.

The next morning Hotaru was her old self. It was like nothing had happened, which was good because it was one of Heero's going to work days. The other pilots were also going to HQ, mostly to update on what was going on and to see if there was anything to be done. Though Hotaru had only been to HQ five times she had become the little darling of the place. Despite the fact she grew at an unusual rate, everyone thought that Heero knew what it was like to be her and adopted her because of that. Beside Hotaru had to come today, since Sally was going to give Hotaru her first check-up.

Today was also a treat for everyone else too. Hotaru was allowed to bring her two new puppies to show off to everyone. It was only when Hotaru could prove that the dogs would listen to her when she said stop. After all they didn't want Hotaru to get dragged off like the first time she got them. The office was filled with greetings to the five Commanders as well as 'Hello Hotaru', 'How are you today?', 'You've grown again!' and 'What cute puppies!'. 

Sally preparing a medical file for Hotaru when the little girl and Heero came in. The doctor stood up from her desk and smiled. She had been wanting to see this little girl since Wufei admitted it seemed like the rumors were true and more so.

"Hello Heero," Sally turned to Hotaru, "And you must be Hotaru. You've grown, the first time I heard about you, you were a little baby."

Hotaru grinned, "I get that a lot."

Sally smiled, "So Heero, is there anything I should know about her?"

"She grows one year every week, and she's very smart," Heero answered.

Sally chuckled, "So I've heard. I was also wondering Heero if you wanted any IQ tests done. To see where she stands."

"I don't know," Heero said thoughtfully, "Better not. I don't want to attract any attention."

"Good point," Sally nodded, "Come on Hotaru. Let's see just how healthy you are."

"Kay! Can my puppies come in?"

"Sorry, but we have to keep this place clean," Sally shook her head, "But they can wait for you outside."

Hotaru looked a bit sad, "Oh, okay."

While this was going, somewhere else in Preventers HQ Milliardo Peacecraft was filling out some paperwork. He had just come back from shore leave with Noin. Though he wasn't really sure at first, he was glad that Noin asked Lady Une for that shore leave. It was just too bad that Relena decided to stay somewhere else. Neither he nor Noin had the time to ask where she went. As he was finishing up, one of the Ensigns came in. The Ensign put some papers on his desk and Milliardo only briefly looked up to show he knew the Ensign was there.

"Welcome back sir," the Ensign saluted.

Milliardo nodded, "Thank you."

Ensign nodded, "I'll leave you to your work. I'm sure you want to get home as soon as possible to see the rest of your family."

Milliardo nodded again absently as the Ensign left. Little did he know that the Ensign had meant more to it than just Relena. The Ensign was one of the many Preventers that had taken a likening to Hotaru. He had thought that Milliardo knew about Hotaru, after all Milliardo was Hotaru's Uncle. The Ensign whistled as he made his rounds. His rounds led him to where Hotaru was sitting. She had brought her laptop along for something to do. The Ensign shook his head and smiled. The girl was only six and she was becoming a lot like her father. Laptop and all it seemed.

"Hello there Hotaru!" the Ensign waved.

Hotaru looked up, "Hello Mr. Peer, have you met my puppies?"

Peer stopped, "I don't think I have."

Hotaru snapped her fingers, "Shadow! Neo! Up and sit!"

Out of the shadows came two Lab puppies, one black and the other yellow. They both stopped in front of her and sat down. She petted them while giving them some doggie treats.

"Good dogs," she chirped.

"They're very well trained," Ensign Peer smiled as he petted them.

Hotaru smiled proudly, "Uncle Trowa helped me."

"Well, now you can show them off to your Uncle Milliardo."

The little girl blinked, "My Uncle Milliardo?"

"That's right. You know, you're mother's older brother, Milliardo Peacecraft," Peer nodded.

Hotaru just looked more confused, "I didn't know I had an Uncle Milliardo."

"I guess they forgot to tell you. After all you were just a baby when he went away on his mission. He just came back from shore leave," he explained, "You should say hello to him."

Hotaru thought about this before closing her laptop, "I should, shouldn't I? After all he is my uncle. Where's his office?"

Peer pointed down one hallway, "That way."

She stood up, "Thank you for telling me."

Hotaru motioned for her dogs to follow her and they obeyed without her repeating her command. As she walked down to see Milliardo she found it strange that she was never really told about him. Maybe it was because her parents and uncles were too busy. After all, everyone said she was a baby more than a month ago. Hotaru stopped in front of the door that was suppose to be her uncle's office. She knocked.

"Come in," a male voice said.

She stepped in, "Are you Milliardo Peacecraft?"

Milliardo looked up from his paperwork to see a young girl with two puppies standing in his doorway. He was slightly surprised, he didn't recognize the girl from anywhere and it wasn't like she was ordinary. On one hand, if she was quiet enough with her small size she could disappear into the shadows without anyone noticing. On the other hand she could also stand out of the ground with her pale skin and dark hair and dark eyes.

"Yes, I am. Can I help you?"

The little girl walked up to him until she stood in front of his desk, "I was told you're my Uncle Milliardo. Since that's the case I thought I should say hello to you."

"Sorry kid," Milliardo smiled at her, "I don't have a niece."

Hotaru's face dropped, "Oh… I thought that you were. I'm sorry. I guess that Ensign was pulling my leg. After all I have so many uncles it wouldn't surprise me if I had another."

"Well, you shouldn't believe everything you hear," Milliardo said.

Hotaru nodded, "That's what daddy told me. Never believe anything unless the person can prove, most of all if it comes from Uncle Duo."

"Duo's your uncle?" Milliardo asked in slight surprise.

He had no idea; after all he wasn't aware that Duo had any family. At least he thought Duo didn't have any family. Now that he thought about Milliardo thought he knew the children of every Preventer in the building at least. He didn't recognize her from anywhere. Maybe he met her before and forgot about it.

"Tell me, what's your name?" Milliardo asked.

Hotaru smiled, "Hotaru, Hotaru Yuy."

Milliardo blinked; did she just say her last name was Yuy? Nah… it couldn't be, it had to be another Yuy.

"Who's your daddy?"

"Heero Yuy," Hotaru answered.

Heero? A father? Milliardo couldn't believe he was hearing this. There was no way Heero could be a father, unless he married and even then he doubted it.

"Do you have a mommy?"

Hotaru nodded, "Of course silly. I have to have a mommy. Uncle Trowa said so!"

Milliardo sat back in surprise. Heero married? This kid was way too old to really be his kid. His guess was that she was the child of the woman's previous marriage, but Heero wouldn't marry anyone like that. As much as Milliardo didn't have a high opinion of Heero, Heero would never do that.

Milliardo couldn't help but find out more about this child, "Sit down Hotaru. Would you like something to drink? Tell me about yourself."

Ensign Peer poked his head into Duo's office giving him his papers. Duo just waved him over to his desk.

"Morning Commander Duo."

"Hiya Peer, what's new on the grapevine?"

"Hotaru just went to say hello to her Uncle Milliardo."

"Oh shit."

Milliardo got himself some water while Hotaru drank some apple juice. Now that he got a good look at her there were several things he was able to figure out about her. It was reflex to study people like that, even if it was a child. The way she talked said she was older, but she was small for her age. She had to be. Her short legs swung over the chair, swinging back and forth.

"So, who are you're other Uncles?" Milliardo could probably guess that one though.

Hotaru smiled, "There's my Uncle Wufei, my Uncle Quatre, and I already told you about my Uncle Trowa and Uncle Duo."

Milliardo decided to kill his curiosity right now, "What's your mommy's name?"

"Relena Peacecraft."

In the office of Heero Yuy, Heero had hung up the phone when Duo came rushing in. Heero looked at him.

"What is it Duo?"

Duo closed the door behind him, "Milliardo is back."

"I know."

"You do?"

Heero pointed to his side, beside him was a gun, "Why else would my gun be out? If I'm lucky Milliardo won't find out."

"No luck," Duo shook her head, "Hotaru went to see him."

"YUY!!!!!"

Hotaru watched with fascination, as Milliardo suddenly turned pale and then to an interesting shade of red and purple. She had never seen anyone look like that before. At first Hotaru wondered if she should get Sally. That was until he yelled loud enough for the whole building to hear her last name.

"Are you all right?" Hotaru asked innocently.

Milliardo growled, "I will be," then he added silently, "After I kill that ."

Sally and Noin were talking in Sally's office when they heard the war cry from Milliardo's office. Noin looked up from her cup of coffee in confusion. As far as she knew unless Heero admitted he liked Relena Milliardo had no reason for screaming out Heero's name.

Sally sighed, "Uh oh… I think Milliardo has met Hotaru."

"Hotaru?" Noin asked.

"We better go and make sure Milliardo doesn't tear down the building trying to kill Heero," Sally got up, running out of her office.

Meanwhile Milliardo was storming down the hall, gun in hand and ready to kill, while poor little Hotaru who had a rough idea what was going on tried to stop him. If it weren't for the fact it was quite clear that Milliardo was off, it would been funny. Hotaru was pulling on Milliardo's jacket, trying to get him to stop. Only the end up being dragged down to her father's office, while Milliardo was taking out his gun and switching off the safety. The sound of the safety going off sent Hotaru in a panic. 

"Please stop Milliardo-san," Hotaru pleaded, "Daddy's really nice. Really!"

"How dare he touch my sister!" Milliardo was on the rampage.

"But daddy would never touch your sister," Hotaru didn't know Relena was his sister, "I mean… daddy always spends time with me and mommy!"

That just sent Milliardo's blood boiling. The idea of **his** sister and that pilot made him see red. Strange, with him just thinking of Heero and Relena it seemed that he forgot to add Hotaru into all of this, and Hotaru was physically six.

"Please, please, please don't Milliardo-san," Hotaru tried to dig her feet in.

Milliardo just kept on walking, sure he had to lean forward, but no one, not even a little girl was going to stop him.

Hotaru was at her wits end, "If you don't stop Milliardo-san, I'll- I'll – I'll cry!"

It was the magic word, Milliardo stopped in his tracks causing Hotaru to ram into him. Quickly he whirled around in surprise at what she just said. From the look of it, she was telling the truth. It wasn't hard for Hotaru to come with tears; it was her father was in trouble.

Milliardo looked down to see Hotaru looking back up at him. Her eyes were big pools of purple sorrow. The little girl's dark purple hair had fallen on one side, part of it covering her cheek making her look small and helpless. Hotaru's eyes were brimming with tears. She sniffed.

Milliardo froze, she wouldn't. She couldn't do this to him. This was emotional blackmail! Still the six-year-old girl all dressed in green overalls and yellow shirt was too innocent to resist. No, she was Yuy's daughter, but she was also Relena's…

A big fat tear rolled down her cheek, "Please Milliardo-san…" she whispered in a small voice.

Her hands were clasped together, begging him to stop was held to her chest. She was so small compared to him and seemed so fragile. Hotaru's puppies were also there, they had followed their mistress knowing her distress. They both lay down at her feet, wagging their tails and looking up at her for orders. They whimpered along with her, wishing that she would tell them what bothered her so. It was like something from a picture. Hotaru felt that she wouldn't get her way. Milliardo was just too determined. She stopped looking at him and looked at her feet.

Drip. Drip.

One tear, then two and then three; she sniffed again, "I guess if you don't like daddy… I guess you don't like me neither… I'm sorry for making you mad Milliardo-san."

Now that tore at his heart. As much as he hated Yuy, it didn't mean he hated her as well. She did come to greet him didn't she? Hotaru was a child, and though her father maybe a in every right, she was a sweet little girl.

Milliardo went down on his knees and pulled her into a hug, "I don't hate you Hotaru," he said softly.

Hotaru looked up, "But you hate daddy."

"Yes," Milliardo said slowly, "But…"

He was going to have to admit it. Whether he liked it or not, Hotaru was also his sister's child. Though only now did he notice, since all of his anger was gone and only guilt for making Hotaru cry. Hotaru didn't look anything like Heero or Relena. No brown hair or sandy blond, or any kind of blue eyes. He would think about it later, right now he had to set this right.

Milliardo gave her a small smile, "I may not like your daddy, but you're still my little sister's daughter and her I like very much. I'm very proud to have you for a niece."

Hotaru's eyes seemed to light up as she tackled Milliardo into a bear hug.

"Does that mean you'll leave daddy alone?" Hotaru asked.

Milliardo had a funny feeling if he didn't say yes the waterworks would start, "I'll leave your father alone, but…" he looked at her in the eye, "It doesn't mean I'll like him."

Hotaru just hugged him again, "Don't worry, you will when you get to know him better! I'll make sure of it."

A year ago Milliardo would have scoffed at anyone who'd say he would come to like Heero Yuy. Two years ago he would have yelled at them for even suggesting he would get along with the ex-pilot. Now Milliardo had a feeling Hotaru was going to make sure her Uncle and Father got along even if it killed her.

Author's Note: Finally! Yes! Success! Originally a part of this was written during my vacation. Unfortunately I didn't like the first reaction that I did for Milliardo and with school and writer's block I rewrote it. Even then, well… I was trying to decide what Milliardo was going to do to Heero. Fistfight or shoot, both were too violent for poor Hotaru. So emotional blackmail.

Now about that dream, I know I didn't mention anything about it, but alas, as much as I'd like to. I can't forget why Hotaru is there in the first place. In other words I can't forget the bad guys. It doesn't mean they'll be the main part of the story. It's about Heero being a daddy, but yea… when she's older they'll have to show up. Then I'll have to get off my lazy butt and make up the bad guys. Also this gives me an excuse to slow Hotaru's aging. I hated the idea now she aged so fast, but on the other hand I couldn't write a lot with her being younger.

Also, I'm very sorry if Hotaru sounds a lot older. I figured there would be times she would sound older than she was and then sound like a kid again. At least at the age of six I can make her speech a bit more mature or a lot it depends.


	12. Preventer Brats

**__**

Preventer Brats

How Preventer's HQ managed to get out of the crossfire between Milliardo Peacecraft and Heero Yuy would be one of those events that would still be debated for years to come. There was something however that everyone could agree on. Milliardo Peacecraft was smitten with his new niece Hotaru Yuy. Then again, to make a point clear in Preventers, the six most dangerous pilots in history were smitten with the girl. So it was only natural that one should pity the poor fool that would mess with Hotaru. Well, most people would anyways.

Hotaru herself had changed as well from what the Sailor Scouts were familiar with. She was still shy like she had been in her previous life, but her life was full of more joy. The little girl was never given a chance to mop or think deeply about where her life was going as a Scout. Not that she remembered at all that she was one, but it would be a safe assumption that if she were to ever fall into dark thoughts Duo would be there to snap her out of it. There were other differences as well, not only to Hotaru, but to the Gundam pilots as well. It was one thing to be needed during a war by thousands who were suppressed or dying, but it was another to be needed by a single girl who depended on them to teach her and raise her into adulthood. In fact it was Hotaru who made them seem more like family than ever, even if one had to contend with Milliardo.

Ding Dong!

"I'll get it!" Hotaru yelled as she skidded down the hallway to the front door before anyone else could stop her.

A week after the entire 'Heero Must Die' incident Hotaru had grown to love her Uncle Milliardo with a passion and as did he during his frequent visits with his wife Noin on their way to work. Hotaru took another turn at the corner nearly causing her to crash into the wall as she skidded to a stop. She stood on top of her toes to grab the doorknob successfully throwing the door open. There stood Milliardo and Noin Peacecraft as they both smiled at her antics. Both dogs Shadow and Neo followed their Mistress with just as much enthusiasm as her. Only they weren't as fortunate as her as they both crashed into the wall when they made their turn around the corner. Not only did they crash into the wall, but the table against it causing the vase full of flowers to tip over and land on top of Neo's head.

"Uncle Milliardo!" Hotaru squealed completely unaware of what her dogs have done.

Milliardo bent down to hug her, "Good morning Hotaru."

Quatre and the others also came out the moment they heard Hotaru squeal Milliardo's name. The blond pilot shook his head and tsked the two dogs who were now wet and whimpering for some pity. Heero walked up to the trio that was standing at the doorway. Noin nodded in Heero's direction and Heero nodded back. Relena whom was right behind Heero waved at Noin and sighed without a sound. Milliardo stood up only to have Hotaru hug his leg as she watched the two closest men in her life.

"Yuy."

"Zechs."

Hotaru watched with the curious eyes of a cat. She could never understand why her father continued to refer to her Uncle, as Zechs even though everyone said his name was Milliardo. This was their way of greeting each other ever since they both agreed not to fight for Hotaru's sake. So every time everyone including Hotaru when to Preventers the morning would be the same. Milliardo would ring the doorbell, Hotaru would answer and this would leave both Heero and Milliardo just staring each other down after the greeting of last or war names. Why both men insisted to do this every single day was beyond any of the witnesses.

Noin coughed, "We better get moving or else we'll be late."

The men blinked before taking a step back.

"Come on Hotaru," Heero picked her up.

Hotaru grinned happily as she wrapped her arms around Heero's neck. She loved days like these, when everyone had to go to Preventers HQ. The main reason was that she got the day off from lessons. Besides she was tired of doing fighting stances for her Uncle Wufei. Besides this entire going out was like a family trip… In a weird demented sort of sense.

"Daddy," Hotaru struggled to stay still as her daddy buckled her in.

"Yes?" Heero still needed time to get use to this, seven weeks from a baby to a six year old was mind boggling at best.

Hotaru smiled up at him, "Can we get ice cream after you're done working?"

Everyone looked at Heero; it was a well-known fact that before Hotaru Heero had a timetable to keep. Now the question was, was Heero going to break that timetable yet again for ice cream. Hotaru looked up at Heero with wide eyes, though in the truth of the matter Hotaru's eyes were naturally wide to begin with. Heero looked down at the child he now after much debate considered his. 

"Okay."

So Heero learned to give in every once in a while since Hotaru came along. Duo looked away to make sure Heero didn't see him smirk. From the looks of it the Perfect Soldier's emotional walls were being taken down by a six year old. Not that Heero minded really, not if it was Hotaru. There were still a few things though that made him uncomfortable when it came to parenting. Hugging would be one of them.

"So, what is Hotaru going to be doing while the rest of you are working?" Noin asked her husband as they followed the other boys in their own car.

Milliardo shrugged, "Yuy feels he doesn't have a choice but to let her loose with the other children."

"That isn't a bad thing Milliardo, she could use a few friends that aren't her Uncles," Noin pointed out as she noticed the frown on Milliardo's face.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course, every child needs at least one friend around their age."

"What age? Noin you heard Yuy, she grows up a year a week."

"Sally says Hotaru has been slowing down…"

"Or maybe she isn't meant to grow really tall."

Noin looked up to where her niece sat in the car ahead. She felt that Hotaru needed friends, but Milliardo was right. How would Hotaru feel when she started to grow older than her friends do? How would her friends feel? Yet there was hope.

Noin gripped her hands, "She will need friends when she stops growing."

Milliardo didn't miss the choice of words Noin used. She said 'when' not 'if' as if Hotaru would truly stop growing. Maybe he was being a pessimist, or maybe he was just jaded by all the awful things that happened during the war he couldn't keep his hopes up.

"Yes, she will when she stops," Milliardo repeated after his wife.

Up ahead the discussion was far more light hearted than what had been going on between the two married couple. Quatre was testing Hotaru on the things that he taught her yesterday. It still floored him at the amount of information that the little girl could remember.

"Uncle Quatre…" Hotaru whined, "I know it all."

"Sorry, but I had to make sure," Quatre beamed at her, "I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't at least make sure you knew."

"Couldn't I learn something else?" Hotaru asked.

Quatre had to admit it probably would be best if Hotaru learned something else. Unlike the other pilots Quatre's subject was something Hotaru could get easily from books, and one couldn't accuse the girl of not reading books. Heaven help them the little girl had nearly gone through their whole library.

"So, what would you like to learn then?" Quatre asked.

Hotaru looked up at the sky in deep thought, "Hmm… I would like to learn……… Music!"

"Music?"

"Yea! Everyone knows you know lots of music so I want to learn music too," Hotaru giggled, "That I can't learn from books!"

How true that was, music wasn't something one could learn from books. Oh, a person could try but the chances of that a person could learn music the right way was slim.

"What part of music?"

"What you play Uncle Quatre… Not where you're sitting… The one where you're standing."

"The violin?"

"Yea!"

"I'll talk about it with your father."

It wouldn't be a bad idea to teach her to play the violin Quatre had mused to himself. He would of course have to talk it over with Heero, but he was sure that Heero would agree to it. All of these thoughts of course were cut short since they had arrived at their destination. Preventers HQ, now the only question was how was Hotaru going to react around the other kids.

~ Five Hours Later~

Twelve-year-old Jace the Ace was lounging in room 333 of Preventer's HQ, which had been made into a hang out of the kid while the parents did what they did best. Normally he would be in school, but today was a P.A Day, in other words no school. This was the same for a good amount of the kids his age and so Jace was stuck in the little kids for the day. Not that he minded, he looked at himself as a big brother of sorts.

"I'm bored…" whined his black counter part Zack a.k.a. Chibi-Duo (because he would never shut-up).

Jace smirked, "You're always bored."

"But I am!"

"Honestly Zack don't you have anything better to do than to complain?" another voice asked in annoyance.

Both boys turned their heads to see a girl their age with boyish short hair and deep blue eyes. Dressed in jeans and a T-shirt she tapped her foot looking at Zack like he was a complete moron.

Zack shrugged, "It's another day for us and there's nothing for us to do Dana…"

"I would like to beg to differ on that," a more musical voice chimed in.

As if by magic a second girl appeared looking just like the first only she had long flowing blue hair and she wore a dress. It looked odd with the leather jacket she wore over top.

"Hi Diana," Jace nodded.

The twins Dana and Diana were also nicknamed Ying and Yang because of their polar personality. Each child was different the only things they had in common were that they were all twelve and they all wore leather jackets.

"So what's new on the grapevine you two?" Jace asked.

Diana gave a sad smile, "I'm afraid we are missing one of the kids in here."

Jace quickly looked out, "Which one?"

He was sure all the little kids were in the room, after all the parents would kill him if he lost any of them. The four were entrusted when they weren't at school to make sure all the kids under the age of seven were happy and healthy.

"He's not one of the Littles," Diana hinted.

Zack wrinkled in nose, "You've been reading fantasy novels again haven't you?"

"Is there a problem with my sis reading fantasy novels?" Dana challenged.

"No… not at all…"

Jace sighed, "Alright already! Diana this wouldn't have to do with a certain Cecil I'm thinking about?"

Diana nodded, "Yes, the last time I saw him he was in the hallway…"

Dana, "Can I beat the tar out of him?"

There was silence between the older kids, Zack could have sworn there were crickets chirping in the background.

Zack blinked, "Diana, isn't there where you start yelling and saying how she shouldn't be wanting to beat Cecil up?"

"Cecil is showing a new kid the 'ropes'," Diana explained dryly.

"Ah…" Jace stood up straight, "I guess this means crying if I'm guessing the age huh?"

"Age 6 I would say," Diana had that same evil glint in her eye that is mostly seen in Dana, "And under our territory."

"Now can I beat the shit out of him?" Dana asked.

"Diana! Language," Diana frowned.

Jace nodded, "Okay, first like Mr. Yuy always says to the Ensigns let's 'asset' the situation first. Zack, go to Mr. Maxwell and see you if you con some more of those chocolate bars from him."

"Why?"

"Because it's the only way I know to make little kids stop crying… Oh and ask for pop too."

"Sure think!" Zack did a mock salute before running off.

Jace gave the girls an evil grin, "Let's pay a visit to Cecil."

Hotaru tried hard to fight back the tears, somehow this situation seemed so familiar though she couldn't put her finger on it just yet. She knew one thing for sure she hated this boy, but Mommy and Uncle Quatre said it wasn't all right to hate people, but she hated him any ways. Why this was happening Hotaru had no idea, just one minute she was reading to her dolly and the next minute she was being pushed down by an older boy.

"Come on brat!" the older boy sneered, "Or are you dumb and didn't get a word I just said? I'm the boss around here so you've got to show me some respect."

"My Uncle says that people like you don't deserve respect!" Hotaru shot back.

"Is that so?" he grabbed her by her front shirt, "Well guess what? Your Uncle or whoever you know can't do a thing."

Hotaru bit the boy on the hand causing him to drop her in pain. The little girl dropped to the floor without hurting herself just like Wufei had taught her so many times before. Generally speaking Mommy had always said it was a bad thing to fight, but Daddy said fighting was good to defend herself from attackers. This boy was certainly on the Attackers List. Still on the ground Hotaru shot out both her legs to catch to boy unbalanced. The older and heavier boy went down in surprise. Hotaru scrambled to her feet and ran.

"You're a dead brat!" he howled.

Hotaru kept on running only to look back to see the boy get to his feet. It looked like steam was reading to come out of his ears. She was in a lot of trouble; unfortunately she wasn't watching where she was going and rammed into someone else. Hotaru mentally groaned for she knew the people she rammed into were with the mean boy. She looked up to see a boy with short spiky black hair and two girls that looked almost alike. The girl with short hair looked at Hotaru was a strange look on her face before smiling like the devil himself. Hotaru shrunk back this was not a good sign. The smiling girl turned her head towards the boy, whom seemed to be the leader. The next words out of her mouth would surprise Hotaru.

The shorthaired girl piped up, "Can we keep her?"

Jace had expected the worse when they went to rescue the young girl from being humiliated, beaten and verbally abused only to find her sweeping Cecil off her feet literally. She was quick and it was clear she didn't mean to harm Cecil or otherwise and Jace was sure of this the girl would have done worse. Yet, there was something familiar about the girl, something his father had told them. He didn't have much time to ponder this as the girl ran and ran into them. Dana was shocked to see a little shrimp like Hotaru take down Cecil. Now that she thought about it Jace had promised them that they could have another member to the group and she was the coolest, cutest and not to mention in Dana's opinion the best ass-kicking little girl she's met.

Dana looked at Jace excitedly, "Can we keep her?"

"You make her sound like she's a dog," Jace stared at his friend.

"Please?"

"Let me think about it," Jace murmured as he kneeled at her level, "Hello, my name is Jace, what's yours?"

Hotaru forgetting that there was a boy charging at her whispered, "Hotaru."

The name was the key that turned on the lightbulb in Jace's head. Unless he was being brain dead there was no way he could miss the name. Jace's face broke out into a grin that seemed to spread from ear to ear. He quickly got to his feet giving a quick glance to a charging Cecil and a pat on the head to Hotaru.

He whispered to Diana over his shoulder, "Go get Mr. Yuy."

"Why? We can handle this," Dana growled.

"Trust me, just say Hotaru is in trouble," Jace turned back just in time to see a huffing Cecil at this face. Jace held Hotaru close to him.

Cecil, "Out of the way that brat is mine!"

Jace raised a brow, "You're certainly right… she is a brat."

Hotaru looked like she was ready to cry… Even this boy called her a brat. How could he?

Cecil looked warily at Jace, "You agree with me?"

"Of course," Jace smiled happily, "She's a brat just like the rest of us aren't you Hotaru," he looked down and winked.

Hotaru recognized that wink. It was the same kind of wink her Uncle Duo would give her whenever he was going to play a prank her in view. Unsure of herself, but sure that saying no would be a bad thing Hotaru played along.

"Yes," she said quietly.

Cecil snorted, "Do you expect me to believe that?"

Jace looked down, "What… Oh! I forgot!" Jace took of his jacket and placed it on Hotaru, "There you go."

Before Dana could react Cecil grabbed Jace by the front of his shirt. Lifting him up into the air wasn't hard since Cecil was clearly far taller than Jace and of a bigger built. Dana did the only thing she could do and that was to grab Hotaru out from between them. Jace didn't move all he did was look down at Cecil.

"That is bullshit, she's a little brat," Cecil slammed Jace into a wall.

Jace winced, "No swearing in front of the kiddies now," he kept an eye out for the end of the hallway. This was going to be the hard part.

Meanwhile in another part of Preventers Duo was finishing up some paperwork when Zack came knocking at his door. Duo looked up to see Zack there grinning at him.

Duo chuckled, "Well, if it isn't my favorite Pre-Brat."

"Hiya Mr. Maxwell," Zack took a seat in front of Duo, "I was wondering…"

"No, the last time you asked me for a favour your mother nearly had my head," Duo shook his head.

"Aww…. Come on it's an innocent request," Zack gave him an angelic smile, "I swear."

"What is it this time?" Duo asked with good humour."

"Maybe…. Chocolate bars and pop?" Zack gave Duo a hopeful smile.

"Again? Can't you buy your own?"

"I do, but this is for a good cause," Zack smiled, "You know… Pre-Brat stuff."

"I don't know…" Duo draggled out.

"Please? For the poor little girl?" Zack gave Duo pleading eyes.

"You know it's a girl this time?" Duo raised a brow.

"That's what Diana said, and you know she doesn't lie."

Duo sighed, "I'm a sucker for you," he rummaged around in his drawer until he pulled out three chocolate bars and here's some money to get some pop."

"Thank you Mr. Maxwell Sir!" Zack ran out of the door.

Duo shook his head, "Thank god there's only four of them."

Back at 'The Wall', as Jace would so kindly put it he was still being held in place. He swore that he was getting some major bruises. The only reason why Dana wasn't saving him was because she was busy keeping Hotaru from doing that herself.

"Stop that!" Hotaru cried out.

"Well Ace?" Cecil spat, "Did you finally learn your place?"

Jace pretend to muse as he saw two figures running down the hallway towards him, "Well… Truthfully speaking the reason why little Hotaru is one of us is one simple reason."

"CECIL!" Heero's voice boomed throughout the hallway.

Jace gave Cecil a shark-like grin, "She's Yuy's daughter."

Cecil paled by several shades and his grip on Jace's shirt loosens as the boy started to tremble.

Jace leaned over till it was nose to nose from Cecil, "One suggestion… Run."

Cecil took off like a rocket down the hallway and around the corner with Heero following at his heels. Dana whistled at Jace's ingenious way of dealing with Cecil. No doubt Cecil would be extra careful to whom he would pick on in the near future.

"Now I really want to keep her," Jace rolled his eyes.

Hotaru took off the jacket and gave it back to him, "Thank you for helping me. Here you can have your jacket back."

Diana murmured, "You know… It wouldn't be a bad idea to keep her on."

"Keep me on as what?" Hotaru asked.

"Keep who on?" another voice asked.

Everyone turned to see Zack standing there balancing three chocolate bars and three cans of Ginger Ale with five cups. He walked up to them and looked down at the little dark haired girl.

"Hey! I know you! You're Yuy's girl," Zack smirked, "Cecil is a dead man- err, boy I mean."

"Already is," Jace thumbed towards the hallway, "And this little squirt on a kick and bite in before hand."

"Cool," Zack nodded, "I like her, of course any girl that Mr. Maxwell likes I like."

"Good, because we're at a stand point," Jace answered back.

Hotaru pouted, "I don't get it."

Diana smiled down at her, "It's a Pre-Brat thing, it's our sudden meeting."

"Pre-Brat?"

Dana nodded, "Stands for Preventer Brat… You know… Kind of like those Military Brats."

Jace smiled, "Well Zack, Dana has nominated Hotaru here for the fifth Pre-Brat position. Diana backed her up, what's your say?"

"Cool! We get Yuy's kid?" Zack's eyes lit up.

"I guess that's answer my question," Jace handed Hotaru back his jacket, "It's yours Hotaru. Welcome to the Preventer Brats."

"OH Yea!" Zack broke out the chocolate bars and pop.

Before Hotaru knew it she had a piece of chocolate in one hand and a cup of Ginger Ale. She smiled at the four older kids before her. They were the best and Uncle Milliardo was worried she wouldn't make friends. Jace raised his cup as if to give a toast.

"To Hotaru Yuy a.k.a… What do we call her?" Jace turned to everyone.

"Childling."

"Nightshade."

"How about Firefly?" Zack piped up, "What? Her name does mean Firefly, at least that's what Mr. Maxwell says."

Jace smiled, "Okay then Hotaru Yuy a.k.a. Firefly! Our newest Pre-Brat!"

Everyone clinked cups together. Hotaru stood on a chair so she would be able to do so without anyone bending down. If anyone had been in the hallway they would have heard the infamous Pre-Brats yelling out.

"To Firefly!"

Author's Note: Sorry for the very, very, very… well you get the idea… the very long wait. I've had this idea floating about, but I'm nearly all wrote out since most of my writing time is spent doing essays. I don't mind essays, but currently I'm on my sixth or seventh essay of the year. Anyhow I hoped you like it. At first I tried to not use any original characters, but when the idea that Hotaru would have friends that weren't the Inners, Outers or Chibi-Usa well this came into mind.

Also * dances * I went to Anime North about two weeks ago. At a request of mine I had a picture of little Hotaru and the G-boys drawn. As soon as I get it on the scanner and onto a site I'll show it off. That picture also spawns some other ideas, but that'll have to wait for later.

Let's see to refresh yours and my memory this last chapter takes place in October… I remember this because the next chapter is supposed to be about Halloween. Also currently Hotaru is six years old, and next chapter she'll be seven. Just so that there's no confusion.


	13. PreBrat Aftermath

Pre-Brat Aftermath

Hotaru happily jumped up and down around her four newest friends as they all stood in the hallway munching chocolate bars and sipping pop. The older kids were explained exactly what the Pre-Brats were known for. The Pre-Brats in the world of Preventers were sort of infamous in both a bad and good way. On one hand they helped out with all of the kids, but on the other hand they got into places most of the higher-ranking Preventers wouldn't dream possible. Only their good deeds outweigh the constant trouble they get into that kept them from being banned from the building for life.

Diana sipped her pop thoughtfully, "You know Mr. Yuy will freak when he finds out."

"True, we aren't technically on his good side not after **someone**," Jace glared at Zack, "Rewired the P.A. System so it would play 'This Is The Song That Never Ends'."

"What? It was wholesome for the kiddies," Zack chuckled as he remembered the look on everyone's faces when the P.A. started to play that.

Dana muttered, "And the time we all shuck into the hanger didn't help much neither."

That had to be the biggest problem for the Pre-Brats or in this case for the Preventers. The four were the brightest kids around, which just added onto the amount of trouble they got into on a regular basis. Of course now that they had a cute and adorable I-Can't-Do-A-Single-Thing-Wrong Hotaru Yuy things were going to get interesting.

Hotaru was more or less bursting for joy, "I can't wait to tell everyone!"

"Oh? Tell them what?" Diana inquired.

"That I'm a Pre-Brat of course!"

Everyone coughed on their drinks; they doubted that her Uncles or father would find as much joy in Hotaru's new position as Hotaru did. Perhaps though Duo would be the exception to the rule, but still they could only imagine that looks on their faces.

Zack coughed, "Can't breath…"

Dana gave him a hard whack on the back, she hit a bit too hard since it sent Zack crashing to the ground. Zack looked up from his spot on the floor.

"We need a camera," Zack crackled.

Jace sighed, "Here we go again…"

Quatre had just finished working on a company contract that should allow more of a trade flow between Colonies and Earth. Normally he would be doing Preventer work, but he had already finished his side of the report. The only other report that he needed to do was his thoughts and observations on Hotaru. She was becoming somewhat of an enigma, and though she was the sweetest the little he had ever met he wondered what secrets were hiding in her. As if that thought had summoned her Hotaru burst through the door with her hair, dress and too big leather jacket flying. Wait, leather jacket? Quatre did a double take as Hotaru stood cutely in front of his desk looking up at him. She rocked on her heels with her hands behind her back looking up at Quatre with an expecting smile.

Quatre stood up and looked over his desk, "Do you need something Hotaru?" he asked sweetly.

Hotaru's smile got wider as she spun around on her heels with her arms out showing off the jacket. It was clearly way to big on her. The sleeves hung over her hands, which could have been easily used to hit someone with and the jacket reached down to her thighs.

"What do you think Uncle Quatre?"

"Uh… Hotaru, where did you get that jacket?"

Hotaru smiled more sweetly than ever a sign of pure innocence, "Ace gave it to me."

"Ace?"

Quatre was dumbfounded; no Pre-Brat has ever given up his or her jacket to a little kid, unless… The SandRock pilot shook his head, there was no way they would make Hotaru was Pre-Brat. Then again, they made Diana a Pre-Brat, but that was only because Dana was threatening an all out war against the boys if they didn't. Still, that didn't explain why Hotaru of all people had Jace's jacket. Jace was a normally quiet and calm kid, it was only when someone took the jacket did he get as bad as Heero at times.

Quatre gently questioned, "Hotaru, why did Jace give you his jacket?"

"Because I'm a Pre-Brat silly!"

If Quatre hadn't been gripping on to the desk he would have fallen over at that moment. His mind started to go in circles so full of questions it left his head spinning. They had only left Hotaru here for half a day and she was already getting into trouble. Now that he thought of it, she was too young to start getting into trouble. Heero was going to be incredibly pissed off, he out of all the Preventers were the least tolerate with the Pre-Brats. Not to mention there was Milliardo, he would rather hang himself than see his niece as a Pre-Brat. The shock must have been clear on his face because Hotaru's smile drooped a little.

"Uncle Quatre?" she whimpered, "Are you upset with me?"

"No, no, its just… I'm shocked…"

To lack of better words Quatre was and it wasn't like he had anything against her being part of the group. It was just that there would be others that would find a problem. Namely Heero and Milliardo, though it would be interesting that the two would agree on anything.

"So, its alright that I'm a Pre-Brat?" Hotaru asked hopefully.

Quatre could almost feel the hopefulness of 'yes' bouncing off her in waves. He personally had no problems with Hotaru being with the Pre-Brats, despite all of their pranks (most of which was Zack's doing) they were really good kids at heart. They were probably a bit too smart for their own good, but otherwise it was no doubt they would go far in their lives. Hotaru needed friends, and out of all of the children the Pre-Brats were the most likely to understand her dilemma, but still the final vote couldn't come from him.

"Maybe you should ask someone else," Quatre suggested, "Look, I have no problem with you being a Pre-Brat, but you must convince your Uncle Milliardo and your father first okay?"

Hotaru's eyes lit up, "Okay! Thanks Uncle Quatre!" she yelled over her shoulder as she ran out of the room to tell the others.

As Quatre stood there in the wake of Hotaru's shocking announcement he wondered if maybe getting her to tell the others was a bad idea. He wasn't completely sure of what the others thought of the Pre-Brats. Quatre knew that Duo actually had a favourite Pre-Brat, but other than that he wasn't sure. He could only hope that there would be no serious aftermath to contend with. Slowly he sat back down in his chair, ignoring his work for once to sit back and think. Minutes passed and the only sound that could be heard was the soft ticking of the clock. The lull of silence was calming compared the to chaos that was going on outside his office. Loud, vocal and imaginative swearing coming from Milliardo Peacecraft's office shattered this peaceful silence.

"I guess she told Milliardo," Quatre told himself aloud.

Meanwhile Hotaru watched with utter fascination as her Uncle Milliardo turned several shades of purple and red before yelling on top of his lungs. Most of what he said was only muffle to her since Noin was kind enough to cover her niece's ears. For Noin on the other hand Milliardo's choice in words were quite interesting and physically impossible as far as threats went.

"…ABSOLUTELY NOT!" Milliardo roared loud enough for Hotaru to make out.

Noin argued as she took her hands away from Hotaru's ears, "Now Milliardo be reasonable."

"I am being reasonable!"

"You said she should have friends."

"Her own age!"

Noin raised a brow.

"What?"

"Dear, most children her age are just learning how to read. Hotaru is reading Shakespeare. I think age just got thrown out the window don't you?"

"But the Pre-Brats of all people?"

Noin walked up behind her husband and put her arms around his shoulders, causing her to stand on her tiptoes. Hotaru looked up at her Uncle with the trademark wide eyes. Milliardo wondered if maybe the term puppy dog eyes started with his niece, because damn if there was such a thing in the dictionary her picture would be beside it.

"Please Uncle Milliardo?" Hotaru pleaded, "They're really, really nice…"

Noin whispered into Milliardo's ear, "Yes, Milliardo please?"

"Noin you aren't helping," Milliardo growled with irritation.

"Think of it this way…" Noin pointed out helpfully, "With Hotaru in the group it'll finally balance everything out and maybe the Pre-Brats will get into less trouble. After all then it'll be Jace, Diana, and Hotaru versus Zack and Dana. The sane people will out weigh the crazy ones three to two."

"Hey!" an indigent voice squealed.

Startled the couple looked towards the door where the voice had made itself known. Disengaging himself from Noin, Milliardo took several long strides for the door. When the door opened down tumbled a pile of Pre-Brats with Zack being on the bottom of the pile.

"Ow…" Zack moaned.

The only person who wasn't in the pile was Diana, which made sense in some ways. Falling to the ground in a dress was probably most embarrassing thing to the girl. Zack craned his neck around to look up at a glaring Milliardo. 

He gave a sheepish grin, "Uh… we were just passing by?"

"You mean like the time you were 'just' passing by one of the main computers?" Milliardo questioned.

"Now that was an accident, how was I supposed to know the computer would do that?"

"Zack, shut up now. You aren't helping our case," Jace told his friend sternly.

There was nothing that could be done, Milliardo was already upset at the fact they had involved Hotaru and listening in wasn't helping them neither. At this point it looked like Milliardo was ready to just ready to have kittens.

"Raging tigers are more like it," Dana thought to herself as Milliardo started to develop a twitch in one eye.

At that moment whether it was just plain bad luck or some other part of ill fate Heero Yuy made his appearance. He showed no sign that he had been chasing Cecil down the hallway earlier that day, nor did he even raise a brow as he stepped over the pile of Pre-Brats. Heero didn't even batter an eyelash as he looked down at his daughter who was wearing a Pre-Brat jacket. In fact Heero looked as calm and collective as if he had just a normal day in the office. Well as normal as anyone could be when their six-year-old daughter straps herself to their leg.

"Why are you wearing a Pre-Brat jacket?" Heero asked emotionlessly.

"Because I'm a Pre-Brat Daddy!" Hotaru exclaimed.

Jace could hear Zack's face connect with the ground. No doubt regretting every prank he played in Yuy's present. Dana just shook her head; they were in for it now. If anyone hated them more than Peacecraft it was Yuy. Heero slowly pried the girl off his leg so he could bend down to meet her at eye level. As a solider he always felt Hotaru was at a disadvantage being far shorter than him. It was best if he could talk to his daughter eye to eye, after all there were times they were equal on certain matters.

"So you've decided to be a Pre-Brat huh?" Heero questioned, his voice betraying nothing.

Diana put her face in her hands torn between horror and outright amusement. Things were getting more interesting by the minute. Her poor twin sister though was thinking of the thousand and one things that could possibly go wrong. Jace was just plain nervous. Yuy was being calm about this, too calm.

"Uh huh…" Hotaru nodded, "So can I Daddy? Please?"

The tension for the Pre-Brats rose as the silence between father and daughter grew. Hotaru was the only one who didn't seem to notice this as she smiled as if expecting her daddy to say yes. Heero gave a glare at the Pre-Brats, studying them and weighting each of them. He looked back at his daughter whom was being as still as a six-year-old can be. Yuy put his hand to his chin looking at his daughter thoughtfully. Finally after what seemed like an eternity Heero smirked. It wasn't just any smirk; it was the smirk that sent most sane people running for their lives.

Zack hit his head on the floor again, "We are so dead…" he murmured.

The next three words out of Heero's mouth would bring all the chaos and havoc his smirked promised.

"Sure, why not?"

"WHAT?" six voices rang in unison.

 Heero shrugged, "I don't see the problem with Hotaru having a few friends. As long as they look out for her."

Milliardo spluttered, "You can't be serious Yuy! This is the Pre-Brats you're talking about!"

"I know, but Hotaru seems to like the well enough and she isn't usually wrong," Heero replied as he got up and brushed himself off, "Why Peacecraft? Do you have a problem?"

"Of cor-"

Noin cut him off, "No, of course there isn't a problem Heero. I think you're right."

The Pre-Brats were stunned at what they were hearing. Heero Yuy of all people actually approved of them. Never mind the fact that Zack had played enough pranks to rival Duo Maxwell. Never mind the fact that they have stuck into more restricted areas than anyone in the history of Preventers. Heero actually didn't mind them!

Noin smiled at Hotaru, "Now why don't you and the others go find something to do? I think your father and your uncle have something they need to talk about."

"Okay," Hotaru hugged Heero, "Thank you Daddy!"

Heero grunted and turned towards Jace, "Bring her back at 3:00 or else…"

He gave them the glare that promised a painful death. Quickly the Pre-Brats rushed to their feet, straightening themselves out while giving a quick salute.

"Yes sir!" Jace nodded.

As the five left Milliardo's office Jace tapped Diana on the shoulder.

"What's the matter?" Diana asked.

"Cover Hotaru's ears."

"Why?"

Jace looked over his shoulder, "Because knowing Mr. Peacecraft, there'll be a lot of swearing in the next two seconds."

Without another word they hurried out of sight.

Author's Notes: Sorry about the long wait people. My excuses for it this time around are two things. First before summer was the exams, I did Algebra and failed. As a result of failing I went to summer school, not to retake Algebra, but took Writer's Craft instead. I took a break after school before summer school to rest up for the trials ahead. Not a bad bargain really, 18 days of hell for a completely new credit. The last project though nearly killed me because all of the writing that was needed. So a week after summer school I was all written out. Pretty much my final project consisted of:

One Resume

One Business Letter

One Personal Letter

Two Diary Entries

One Script

One Short Story

One Poem

One News Article

All to be done within a week. Love my life. Also it all had to be based on a real person not a character. So I spent two days out of that week researching Catherine of Aragon. So I had five days to finish it, well… four since I didn't want to show up for exam day since I don't have an exam for that course. Now I can only pray at least got 80 in that course otherwise my parents will kill me. So that's how my summer has been.

As for the story, I know I said Halloween, but I couldn't help but say a bit more about the Preventer Brats, and about some other reactions to them. I swear Halloween is next. It's in the works right now and should be done by next week.


	14. Trick or Treat

Trick or Treat

Two weeks had passed and though Hotaru was still growing she was growing more slowly for some reason. They really didn't know what age she was at, but there was one way to find out. It meant though she would need another examination by Sally. In fact near the end of October that's exactly what they were doing. Heero had Hotaru on his lap, while Relena was sitting beside them. It was kind of strange, even though Relena insisted that Hotaru was Heero's child and was just helping out. The two had both been quite involved when it came to raising the little girl.

When Sally came in they sent Hotaru off with Duo. Though Duo was sometimes immature, his happiness helped get Hotaru's mind off of what the grown-ups were talking about. There were some things not even Heero wanted her to know about herself. Sally looked up from her chart. Hotaru was still healthy and happy. Clearly it seemed that the experiments had no effect on her besides fast growing, but now it seemed like she was slowing down. It could be possible there would be more time than they thought? She wasn't completely sure of Hotaru's age though.

"We're going to need a few x-rays and maybe a bone density scan to determine the age," Sally said slowly, "I know you're not big on tests like that Heero."

Heero nodded, "Hn."

"But unfortunately there's no other way. Trying through mental development is out of the question since it's clear that Hotaru is way above the grade they would have put her in," Sally paused, "Do you know where she stands as far as learning goes? I know you're training her and it's showing. She's stronger than she was last time."

"She already knew a bit of Japanese, and now knows that on top of Mandarin," Heero explained, "Currently at a third or fourth grade level. Probably higher in some areas," he paused, "She's curious so she reads a lot about different things. There's a chance we're underestimating her, but it's hard to tell."

Sally nodded, it was to be expected that Heero would say something like that. In more ways than one it should be nearly impossible to consider so much of a young girl, but this young girl was not normal.

Sally shrugged, "Well, it's not like she's developing any special abilities. At least not any that people would be alarmed about. She's stronger than most children her age but not overly strong. Hotaru is not going to accidentally hurt anyone."

"Sounds good," Relena smiled.

"Well, don't celebrate too soon," Sally warned, "She's still young. Her eyesight is normal 20/20, if they did anything to that it might be that she'll never need glasses. Hearing is normal, a bit better than some people, but again she's young so that could be the reason."

Heero nodded slowly, "Anything unusual?"

Sally thought about this for a moment, "For you Heero it wouldn't be. When Hotaru scraped her knee last week it healed over pretty quickly. So I'm guessing she is quick to heal. What this could mean about how many times she could get sick I don't know," Sally shrugged, "If it weren't for her aging problem I'd swear she was just a normal little girl."

"In truth she's not," Heero stated, "I'm more worried about if she keeps aging like this. I'd like to find a way to make that stop."

"I agree with you," Sally just shrugged, "The problem is I don't even know why they did that in the first place. Wouldn't it be better to let her age normally? For all her fast learning it still takes time to train a soldier. I'm starting to wonder if the aging isn't just some accidental side effect."

"Accidental?" Relena was horrified at the idea.

Sally gave Relena a sad look, "No matter how smart these people are we still have to face facts. Fooling around with human genes comes with a price. We don't know what every piece of DNA does or what turns something on or off. That's why there's a law limiting genetic experiments on humans to nothing. It's surprising that Hotaru just hasn't burnt out from just growing that fast. Then again, there's a lot about Hotaru that just doesn't make any sense."

As much as Heero hated to admit it, a lot of what Sally said was true. Not only was Hotaru a mystery in body, but in her creation as well. So far her personality, her abilities and even her gender didn't quite match up in what Heero knew about the scientists or about Dr. J. If the doctors had the ability to make Hotaru age faster. Then why not to change her personality? So far her cheery, sweet and sometimes mischievous deposition had very little to do with the way they raised her. Maybe, Heero figured that when they caught this mysterious colleague they would find the answers they needed to help Hotaru.

Duo grinned as he watched Hotaru tumble about with her pets. Out of everyone Duo figured Heero would be the last of have kids, but here he was. Looking after Heero's daughter, not by blood of course. It seemed close enough though as Heero would always make time for the little ragamuffin.

Hotaru sat down, between each dog and looked up at Duo, "Uncle Duo, tell me about Halloween."

"Sure," Duo grinned, "Why are you asking now?"

"Because I heard a lot of kids passing here that they're going out for Halloween," Hotaru said, "I want to know what's it like."

Duo leaned back, "Well, Halloween is when people, mostly kids. Dress up in costumes and go trick or treating," he adds, "They go up to people's houses and ask for candy."

"Is it fun?" Hotaru asked.

"Lot's of fun," Duo nodded.

Hotaru smiled, "Can I go out for Halloween?"

"Ask your dad, but he'll say yes," Duo grinned, "We just need to get you a costume."

"What kind?"

"Oh I can think of something," Duo got this grin that said 'trouble' on his face.

Hotaru, even though she was quite young didn't miss her uncle's manic grinned that promised chaos, nor did her father when he came out of Sally's office. Duo tilted the chair back to look at Heero. Heero gave Duo a look before looking at Hotaru just to make sure she was still there. The other pilots, whom just walked in so that they could hear from Heero and Relena what they heard from Sally also caught sight of Duo's grin.

Wufei shook his head, "What are you up to now Maxwell?"

"Me?" Duo asked, "Now what tro-"

"Duo the last time you said that Shadow and Neo was dragging Hotaru halfway across the mall," Heero reminded him.

Duo grinned sheepishly, "Okay, okay! So it was bad, but it's innocent really!"

Quatre was curious, "What was your idea?"

"It's three days until Halloween!" Duo chirped, "So I figured we all go shopping for a Halloween costume for Hotaru and take her out for trick or treating. At least now she won't grow out of her costume before she can wear it!"

"Sounds like a great idea!" Quatre smiled at Hotaru, "After all she's still a child."

"Can I daddy?" Hotaru asked.

This after all sounded like so much fun. With the fun of dressing up at something and being allowed to go out at night. There was also the promise of candy. Like any child candy, and lots of it was a good thing.

Heero sighed, "Okay," he turned to Relena, "Will you be coming?"

"Why not?" Relena asked with amusement, "It'll be interesting to see what you all chose for costumes."

"I think Hotaru will love this," Duo rubbed his hand together.

Relena just gave Duo a look, "Don't forget it's Hotaru that will be used as a dress up doll until we find a costume both she and we will like."

"Why of course," Duo gave her an evil smile.

Hotaru looked warily up at her Uncle Duo, for if there was anything she learnt, it was never to trust the God of Death. Only fate would know the irony of the Goddess of Death and Rebirth fearing Duo Maxwell. 

Before any of them, minus Duo knew it they were all in the children's section of a department store looking through what seemed to be hundreds of different costumes. None of the guys knew where to start, but Duo on the other hand headed straight for a purely black costume. He yanked it out and ushe aru to the nearest change room.

"Try this one sweetie, I'm sure this will make you the coolest kid on the block," Duo crackled.

Hotaru asked warily, "Are you sure about this Uncle Duo?"

"Of course I'm sure! Try it on!"

Hotaru looked at the black piece of clothing dubiously, unsure if this was such a bright idea now. Still, if Daddy said it was all right for her to go out on Halloween, then what Uncle Duo was doing must be okay. A few minutes later Hotaru came up all dressed up in flowing black robes and she held in her hands a wooden stick.

Wufei looked at Duo, "What is she suppose to be Maxwell?"

"An Auror of course!" Duo explained proudly.

"An Auror?" Trowa repeated raising a brow.

"You know from Harry Potter."

"Maxwell, what in the hel-heck is Harry Potter?"

Hotaru piped up, "Not what Uncle Wufei, who. Harry Potter is a character from a book and that's the name of the series. And I'm an Auror out to get evil wizards and witches, and I'm gonna trip over these robes."

"Maybe we should try something else," Quatre suggested as he shifted through the racks.

Five Minutes Later.

Hotaru held out her arms as she looked down at the white fluffy dress. It was several layers of sheer white with the final layer being a clear sparkly kind of fabric. The sleeves were short and puffy and on her back was a big white bow. Slowly small gloved hands gingerly touched the fake silver tiara on her head. Though Hotaru certainly looked stunning in her princess costume, Hotaru herself was also looking stunned.

Duo shrugged, "Look at it this way… At least it isn't pink. Most princess costumes are pink."

"Still, it looks like she's going to fall over," Trowa commented, "And I don't think Hotaru is completely thrilled with the idea."

Heero shook his head, "The white is washing what little colour she has out."

This comment was quite true, even for something as fashionable handicapped as Heero could see that. Hotaru was still as pale as when he first found her on the doorstep. Even when Hotaru spent hours out in the sun she never developed a tan. The white dress was making Hotaru look like a ghost at this point.

"We could always try the pink princess dress," Duo suggested.

Hotaru glared at her Uncle Duo.

Duo backed up, "Okay… Your kid is giving me your famous I-will-kill-you glare, I'll take that as a big no."

Heero smirked as he patted Hotaru on the head. Pleased that her daddy was pleased Hotaru smiled up at him looking completely angelic. It made a cute scene, something passing mothers commented on. After all how many fathers came and helped their daughters with costumes.

"Aw… isn't that sweet?"

"Look at those two and the way he's smiling at her. He's such a good father."

"I wish my husband would spend time with our daughter like that."

"No kidding my husband treats Lily like she's from a different planet."

"He looks so proud…"

Wufei coughed politely and whispered to Quatre, "I wonder what they would say if they knew Yuy is probably proud of Hotaru glaring at Duo."

"You think so?" Quatre watched the father-daughter scene.

"Give her a few years and she'll have Yuy's glare," Wufei muttered, "Just you wait."

Another Five Minutes Later

"Absolutely not," Relena stated after seeing Hotaru's latest costume.

Hotaru at this point could certainly be called daddy's little girl. She stood, grinning at attention wearing commando style pants and tank top. The original dog tags she had scene she was a baby twinkled under the lights. At this point the only thing she was missing was a gun, though Duo tried to help out by giving her a fake one. This only got him a disapproving glare from Relena.

Heero shrugged, "It could be worse, I don't see a problem."

"Heero, not that," Relena shook her head.

Duo grinned, "I think she makes a cute commando."

Relena scowled at Duo.

Duo then hastily added, "But I'm sure there's something in here that'll make her cuter."

"Coward," Wufei muttered under his breath.

Duo whispered back, "Yea, well I think Relena has been hanging around Heero too long."

Trowa chuckled and Quatre smiled.

Over Twenty Minutes Later

"Hotaru please come out," Relena called.

"No."

"Please?"

"Uh-Uh."

Heero rapped on the door, "Hotaru come out now," he said sternly.

"No!"

The five pilots and Relena were standing outside the change room. They had given Hotaru another costume to try on. So far Hotaru had been in there for over ten minutes. For some reason she refused to come back out. No matter how much they asked, pleaded or coaxed she just refused to come out.

"Come on Little Yuy," Wufei growled, "How bad can it be?"

"Remember when Uncle Duo dyed your hair pink?"

"Yes."

"It's worse than that."

They all looked at each other in confusion, what on earth could possibly be worse than having your hair dyed pink? It made no sense at all.

Heero looked at Wufei, "What did you pick out?"

"I don't know. I just grabbed the warmest thing I could think of," Wufei explained, "It's always cold on Halloween so I thought just get her something that was thick and she wouldn't get cold in."

"Maybe you should have checked to see what it was," Quatre sighed.

Relena knocked, "Come on out sweetie, I promise we won't laugh."

"You promise?"

Duo drew a cross over his heart, "Cross my heart and hope to lose my hair."

"Isn't it hope to die?" Trowa asked.

"Yea, but I think losing my hair is worse."

"Don't be silly Uncle Duo."

Duo pleaded through the door, "Please come out? Pretty please…"

"… Fine…"

Hotaru huffed out with her arms crossed giving them a pout, as she stood there unhappy at the latest try at costumes. Duo stared at her several minutes of silence passed before he broke out into pearls of laughter. Everyone watched as the DeathScythe pilot collapsed in a heap of chuckles.

Hotaru stomped her foot, "Uncle Duo! You promised!"

"Sorry… hehe… H-Hotaru, but… chuckle… I can't… haha… believe… chuckle… that Wufei…."

The reason for Duo's laugher could be clearly seen. The costume was certain fuzzy just as Wufei had claimed. Hotaru was dressed up in a white fuzzy unicorn costume complete with a hood that had the mane and horn. There was even a tail stuck on her little bum. She was not a happy camper to be put in something so degrading.

Relena murmured to Heero, "With that look she's giving Duo, I'm half expecting her to threaten him with bodily harm."

"Now what gives you that idea?"

Hotaru glared at Duo with as much seriousness as a seven-year-old could muster. Put it mildly being seven didn't make one very scary. 

"I think we should stop now," Quatre suggested.

Heero agreed, "Before she really does pull off something I would do to that braided baka."

Heero walked over to Hotaru, picking her up and carrying her back to the change room. He might not have been the most emotionally adept person around, but he knew when his little girl needed some comforting.

"I don't like Uncle Duo now," Hotaru pouted.

Heero nodded absently, "Don't worry, you'll like him again. Till then, you can let Neo and Shadow loose in his room."

Even children needed a bit of revenge now and then.

Author's Notes: Done, but not completely, I realized after a while this chapter was going to get really long, so to off set that it's being split into two parts. What happened here was the original idea of what I wanted to happen on Halloween with some parts cut out. The next part is the newer idea, which was thought up over a month ago. Sadly enough the first three pages of this story were written last year. That's how long ago it was.


	15. Give Me Something Good to Eat

Give Me Something Good To Eat

When her fellow Pre-Brats found her, Hotaru was laying her head on the conference table looking like she hadn't had enough sleep. Diana quietly walked up to the younger girl to feel her forehead only to turn back and shrug at the others. Jace bent down a little so he could see more or less eye to eye with Hotaru. He ended up putting his head on the table in order to do so.

"What's up Firefly?" Jace asked.

Zack added, "You look like someone dragged you through h-"

Both Dana and Diana gave Zack the look.

"Never mind…" Zack turned away just so he didn't have to look at them.

Hotaru mumbled, "My Uncle Duo took me and my family shopping for Halloween costumes for me."

"Halloween fun!" Diana clapped, "Funny, we were coming here to talk to you about that."

"Geez, you didn't already get a costume did you?" Zack asked, "I mean, we had this really great idea, well several and we wanted to give you the final vote."

"No, it was a disaster," Hotaru shook her head.

"Disaster?" echoed the Pre-Brats.

Zack mused, "Well… we all did agree that if Mr. Maxwell had a middle name it would be disaster…"

"It couldn't have been that bad," Diana replied.

"You weren't the one put into a fluffy unicorn costume!"

Zack coughed, "Unicorn! Aww… Our little Firefly-"

Hotaru glared at him.

"As inherited her daddy's glare," Zack finished.

The others snickered at Zack as he backed up away from Hotaru. Taking a seat at the conference table two chairs away from her. Diana and Dana decided to place themselves between the two while Jace took the head of the table. Everyone turned to him expecting something out of their fearless leader.

"Well…" Jace said slowly, "It's almost Halloween again, which means…"

"Time to plan the party!" Zack shouted.

Dana bonked him on the head, "Every year Hotaru we come up with a theme to dress up to."

"Last year we were the Scoobies from an old Earth cartoon called Scooby Doo," Diana explained, "The year before that it was Lord of the Rings, and so forth. Sometimes we even just all dressed up in a theme like old Earth monsters or something."

Zack leaned back in his chair, "Now there is five of us, which just means more fun!"

"Don't even get into that," Dana warned, "We don't need Mr. Yuy on our heels thank you. I value my life!"

"Aww… Come on it can't be that bad," Zack whined halfheartedly as he poked Dana.

Dana swatted his hand off, "So anyhow Hotaru-chan what do you think?"

"Sounds good," Hotaru mused, "Better than going costume shopping again."

Jace nodded, "Our first idea was…"

"Fantasy!" Diana clapped, "I would be a lady-in-waiting."

Zack sighed, "Jace figured the guys would be knights or bodyguards or something."

"Me, I would be a merc," Dana smirked, "and Hotaru would be our princess."

"No," Hotaru stated, "I got put into a princess costume. Too frilly. No."

Jace grinned, "Don't worry, we figured that a frilly princess wouldn't be you. My mom makes the costumes and she's been dying to make one for a little girl. You could be the princess of…"

"Darkside," Zack suggested.

"Crystalise," Diana suggested.

Hotaru looked at all of them thoughtfully, "If I have to be a princess, then I would rather be the princess of Saturn."

"Saturn?" everyone else in the room echoed.

"Uh huh…" Hotaru nodded, "Saturn is my favourite planet and that's what I would rather be princess of."

Jace asked, "What gave you that idea?"

"My dolls," Hotaru explained.

All the Pre-Brats had been over to Hotaru's at least one by now and had seen her famous doll collection. A collection of dolls that Hotaru named after planets and Earth's moon. They were a royal court Hotaru claimed, she even went as far as to cut and dye one of the dolls' hair blue.

"Anyhow," Jace continued, "I have a few more plans as well."

Dana chuckled, "Now this is just asking for trouble."

"But isn't the Pre-Brats always suppose to get into trouble anyways?" Hotaru asked innocently.

"Good point!" Zack crowed, "So, give it to us o'fearless leader."

Jack leaned forward with a sly grin on his face, "Here's the plan…"

Another day came and went, and during that time Hotaru convinced Duo that she could come up with her own costume. The guys somewhat lighten the load of her school work since Hotaru was not only ahead, but with Halloween coming up it was really hard to get a seven year old to sit down for more than ten minutes. Previous years before Hotaru ever came into their lives Halloween was more or less a peaceful time of year. The only person that ever excited about it was Duo whom would buy tons of candy whether or not he would be able to give it all away. In fact the afternoon of Halloween Hotaru watched her uncle pour out bag after bag of candy he brought a week in advance.

"Uncle Duo…"

"What's up Hotaru?"

Hotaru eyed the vast amounts of candy uncertainly, "Are you sure you need this much candy?"

"Of course Taru-chan!" Duo exclaimed, "That's why kids come here every year."

Heero and Trowa came in after another of their secret missions, though with Hotaru around these days all missions were secret since they rather not Hotaru find out about how much danger they get into regularly. They came in just in time to see little Hotaru craning her neck up to the counter where the unstable growing mountain of candy was being created.

"Uh Uncle Duo…"

"Just a moment Hotaru."

"But Uncle Duo…"

"Not now Hotaru, Uncle Duo is busy."

"But Uncle Duo…"

"Taru, just wait."

"But Uncle Duo, I think that mountain is going to-"

Without any proper warning the mountain of candy toppled over and started a candy-slid down to where Hotaru was standing underneath it all. Heero took one great leap so he was quickly at Hotaru's side. With no effort Heero grabbed Hotaru out of the way of the falling candy. Just in time as the candy created another pile where Hotaru once stood. The former Perfect Soldier lifted Hotaru up so that she was holding onto his shoulders before glaring at Duo.

"Why is it when I leave her with you for a only a few hours she somehow manages to get into trouble?" Heero asked.

Duo laughed, "Come on Heero, it wouldn't have hurt her. Most kids like the idea of being buried in candy."

"Duo…"

"Come on, she's fine aren't you Hotaru?"

Hotaru chirped, "I'm fine daddy, see?" she laid her head on his shoulder lovingly.

Trowa shook his head, "Duo isn't there anything else you should be doing?"

Duo looked thoughtful for a minute, "Hmm… Let's see… I don't think… Wait a minute! I remember, I forgot to decorate the front yard!"

Hotaru whispered into Heero's ear, "Daddy, I'm afraid."

Of course Hotaru wasn't really afraid, she could never be around Duo Maxwell, but his out going natural was really a bit too much for Hotaru. Hotaru was becoming, despite her love of childish fun was a lot like Heero. She preferred quiet, unless it was the playing of her own violin or listening to music.

Heero smirked, "You can't be afraid of Duo, he's nothing."

"But he's the God of Death."

Heero sighed, "Yes, but you're my daughter and we're not afraid of Death, he runs from us."

Hotaru giggled, "Why is it the God of Death is afraid of you? You're a human."

"Because around me he's human too."

Duo interrupted their little chat, "Come on Hotaru! Let's decorated the front yard!"

"Coming Uncle Duo!" Hotaru kissed Heero on the cheek before squirming her way down to the ground.

The two men watched as the child and the big over grown child ran out of the kitchen completely forgetting the piles of candy on the counter and floor. Trowa watched Heero out of the corner of his eye. Heero had this looking of contentment on his face, the kind no one would have ever thought to see on Heero's face at all. This child was doing Heero a world of good, now the question was could they do her any good in return.

"You've changed," Trowa commented.

Heero answered, "I know, and I wouldn't change that at all."

Duo lunged a huge cardboard box out into the yard where all the other neighbours were watching. Every year Duo put up incredible amounts of decorations, only this was the first year he got help doing it. Hotaru half crawled into the box only to pull out a string of lights that were in the shape of small skeletons. 

"What are these?" Hotaru held them above her head.

Duo looked up, "Those are lights, just hang them on the trees Hotaru."

Hotaru gathered up the skeleton lights wrapping them around herself so she could gather more into her arms. It came to the point one would question whether she was decorating herself or the trees. Meanwhile Duo took up a shovel and proceeded to dig a few 'graves' around the front yard. Inside the house Quatre watched as Hotaru ran among the trees tossing up little lights as she went. She giggled as her hair trailed behind her in a picture of pure innocence.

Later that night Hotaru was busy zooming around the house like a busy little bee. No one knew what she and the other Pre-Brats were planning. All they did know was that Jace had taken her to his home earlier for her costume. Hotaru zipped from room to room pestering everyone. Trowa was peacefully reading when Hotaru came bounding into the room.

"Uncle Trowa!"

Trowa looked up in time to see Hotaru give him a running jump as she landed in his lap. She hugged him around the waist, and though she wasn't squeezing the life out of him (since it would take someone a lot stronger than Hotaru to do that) it was quite clear the training was taking its toll on her. Her hugs were a lot tighter than he remembered them.

"Yes Hotaru?"

Hotaru looked up at him with innocent looking eyes, "Can I bring Neo and Shadow with me for trick or treat? Daddy said I had to ask you because you're the one helping me train them."

It was true in more ways than one; Heero was just as bad with dogs as he use to be bad with kids. The training of the two dogs went to Hotaru who in turn, turned to Trowa for help. Given that Trowa could tame lions two hyper dogs weren't really a challenge.

"I suppose so, since they are well behaved," Trowa answered.

Besides the fact the little terrors were hyper has five year olds on a sugar high the dogs were actually be best trained in the neighbourhood. Whether or not this was because they adored their little mistress was questionable.

Hotaru hugged him again, "Thank you Uncle Trowa!"

Her hugs had indeed gotten tighter than the last time he remembered.

Relena was in the study finishing up some paperwork when Hotaru came rushing in. Hotaru ran around the desk to give Relena a huge hug reserved only for family.

"Mommy…"

Relena absently patted her on the head, "Do you need anything sweetie?"

"Can I borrow some of your jewelry?"

"What for?"

"It's a surprise…" Hotaru put a finger to her lips.

Relena bent down, "Yes, but I need to know what you're going to use my jewelry for."

Hotaru had this thoughtful look on her face as she thought on what Relena had said. It took a lot to not just yell out cute in front of her since Hotaru was trying to be serious. Then carefully Hotaru stood on her tiptoes and whispered into Relena's ear.

Relena's eyes widen in surprise, "I thought you didn't want to be a princess Hotaru."

"It was just the dress," Hotaru told her, "I like the dress Jace's mommy made for me. It's pretty and not white or pink. It's my favourite colour."

"Ah… So I guess I should help you then," Relena rose from her sit, "Come on, I'll help you and then you can surprise your Daddy and Uncles."

Hotaru face beamed at the idea.

The neighbourhood darkens under the dying sun of reds and oranges. As things became dark the stars started to appear one by one just like the lights of the jack-o-lanterns started to wink to life. Cloth ghosts swayed in the wind along with the clattering of plastic skeletons. Dry autumn leaves tumbled across the streets pushed by the cold Halloween wind. Tonight witches will ride free, ghosts will haunt, wolves will howl, ghouls will rise from the grave and an entourage fit for a princess will march.

Ding Dong!

Duo heaved the large bowl of candy on his shoulder before opening the door.  There before him were four people. The girl with long flowing blue hair done up in a medieval style was clearly Diana. She was holding a wagon that was painted black and so that it wouldn't break the rules of having things that could be seen in the dark for their safety it was decorated with shining silver dots that were stars and a planet with rings that was also made out of silver. Before him were two boys, clearly just by Diana being there Duo knew who.

"Jace! Zack! What are the Pre-Brats doing here?" Duo grinned.

Jace pulled back his homemade cloak, "Why else? To get our youngest Pre-Brat."

As if the thought of Hotaru had summoned her she appeared on the stairs like she had been conjured out of thin air. Duo knew better though, he had been teaching Hotaru how to walk quietly, like a mouse. The only person she hadn't been able to sneak up on was Heero, but Duo figured give the girl time. All eyes were on Hotaru who looked like she was about to burst with happiness. She wore a dark purple dress with long sleeves, which looped around the middle finger. It wasn't frilly; it was flowing in layers like a dark waterfall. The only piece of jewelry she wore was a silver tiara, which looked a lot like the one Relena use to wear when she was Queen of the World. Hotaru hiked up her dress so she could merrily skip down the steps.

Jace gave a mocking bow, "We are here and ready princess."

Hotaru giggled, "Don't be silly, you shouldn't have to bow."

"Hey!" Zack exclaimed, "We're your knights, well the guys anyways. Let us have our fun, but aren't we missing something?"

Hotaru nodded, her head bobbing up and down so quickly it was a wonder why it didn't come off. She turned and gave a sharp whistle. Out into the front hall came Neo and Shadow just as content with their tongues rolling out in a doggy grin. They too were bedecked and costumed for the event. Cloths of dark purple were draped over their backs, straps from the cloth wrapped around their chest and stomachs kept the things from falling off.

Duo looked at his niece, "I hope you aren't hitching those two to the wagon."

Hotaru winked, "I won't tell if you won't."

"Your Dad will kill me but…" Duo looked at the Brats and then at the dogs before looking back at Hotaru, "What the heck, he's been threatening to kill me for years and hasn't done it yet."

Zack ushered Hotaru outside, "Come on before Mr. Maxwell changes his mind."

Author Notes: More cute stuff and less funny stuff, sorry people, but I've learnt something valuable a long time ago. If you think you should stop, then stop or else you're just babbling and it won't make sense. I lost the train of thought on this chapter and well I feel that it should end… the chapter I mean.

On another note I nearly didn't get this one done. Partly because I needed to drag my ass away from Windwaker for starters and I've been writing something else for a friend of mine. No, it isn't a story that'll be posted, but you should check it out. It's at the place is a site for an RPG club that I've been in for the past three years. If any of you read Wing School you might recognize some of the characters by name. Well, just two really, but other than that well… Please, check it out. Actually my stuff, since it is for the light side probably isn't up yet, but Francis (the guy who made the site) did a really good job I think should be shown off.


	16. Not So Pleasure Meeting You

Not So Pleasure In Meeting You

The days glided smoothly into the colder month of November. Brown leaves soon fell, only to be swept up by the wind and pushed along the sidewalk. Weather wasn't the only thing that was changing in the Winner home. Hotaru had grown a bit more over the two weeks. The latest test of Sally's showed that Hotaru was now the picture of a healthy eight-year-old girl. What made Hotaru different was that eight-year-old girls normally didn't know how to fight, or in case of Hotaru knowing what any normal soldier would. In a normal society Hotaru would be considered a child prodigy. To the pride of everyone foremost Heero, Hotaru passed all of their tests. Yet, the greatest test perhaps wasn't one created by her father or Uncles, but the ones that came with real life.

"I'm not so sure about this…" Relena mused both her and Heero traded worried looks.

Noin reassured them, "It's only a somewhat formal get together with certain people Relena. Heero will be there to play bodyguard as always and with the other pilots will be there in case there is a chance of someone coming in and ruining it, which is very unlikely. What are we forgetting?"

"Hotaru," Heero stated, "With everyone busy making sure Relena is alright there won't be anyone to watch her."

"Maybe send her to one of the Pre-Brats," Noin suggested.

"It's more than that," Heero frowned.

He always had trouble explaining things like this to other people, but he knew Hotaru. Just because she was eight in body people tended to dismiss her as a child. Heero knew better, from day one he treated her like a young adult and he still would. She was not some child unaware of what was happening.

"Hotaru will notice how uptight things will get," Heero explained, "I'm surprised we've managed to keep our missions from her for this long, but with Winner's home being turned into a small fortress for this event she'll know something is up and sending her away to her friends will just make it worse."

In fact Hotaru was already asking questions about all the people coming in and out of the house. Sometimes she could be there while Relena planned things and she often asked what was going on. As soon as the boys started to arm themselves she would know.

Noin pointed out, "But you can't have her stay here. As Relena mentioned there will be no one to watch her."

"Hotaru is mature enough to understand how to behave," Heero replied, "We can trust her with small things that way she won't worry as much about the security precautions will be taking. The more she's involved less she'll worry."

Relena rolled her head to the side to look at Heero, "Heero, have you been reading Child Psychology books?"

"… Yes," Heero admitted, "I didn't know what else to do when I first got her."

"If you think she'll keep out of trouble," Noin responded, "I don't think there will be a problem."

Heero sighed, "As long as the Pre-Brats are kept away from the event we'll be fine."

"Knock on wood Heero," Duo chuckled, "Those kids just might show up."

In the days that passed the Gundam pilots prepared themselves and Hotaru as best as they could. Though they didn't include her in all their meetings, they did each have a talk with her about what was to happen. The Pre-Brats were disappointed for not being able to come to the gathering, as even though Zack suggested for them to sneak in, Jase didn't want to get on Heero's blacklist. No one wanted to get on Heero's blacklist. The day of the gathering everyone was doing last minute preparation, even Hotaru, even though she wasn't too pleased about it.

"Hold out your arms," the dressmaker was doing a last minute fitting before the party.

Hotaru squirmed and whined, "Daddy! Do I have to wear this?"

Heero, who had entrusted Trowa and Duo to watch Relena prepare while he watched his daughter looked up from the security detail he was reading for the 20th time. He smirked at Hotaru's expense. The girl was decked out in a frilly dark pink dress, it was a compromise since Hotaru refused and nearly threw a fit over the light pink dress the dressmaker wanted to put her in.

"Yes you have to," Heero replied, "Everyone else is dressing up."

"But Mommy is wearing blue," Hotaru complained, "And you and all the Uncles get to wear the same thing. Why do you get to wear the same thing?"

"Because guys wear the same thing," Heero replied absently, "Besides people expect cute little girls to wear pink."

Hotaru pouted at Heero making her look even cuter than she already was. Despite the fact she was giving him a copycat version of his deathglare. Heero looked over the security detail and smirked at her. That was his little girl.

"Look at it this way," Heero explained, "If there really is someone out there to hurt Relena, no one will think of a little girl in pink will notice him."

"Or her," Hotaru added.

"Or her," Heero corrected himself, "So you just go to the party and act like a cute little girl."

"While looking for anyone who would hurt Mommy," Hotaru chimed in all proud about her part in helping her daddy.

Heero nodded, "And what do you do if you see someone suspicious?"

"Report to you, or one of my Uncles, or Auntie Noin, or Sally," Hotaru answered most seriously letting the dressmaker put on the finishing touches.

"That's my girl," Heero smirked.

And they told him that Hotaru wouldn't get it. Most people would have argued about letting a little girl in on all the security, but since it was Heero heading the thing no one argued. Besides the worse thing was that she informed them of some harmless people acting strangely, and at best she wouldn't notice anything. At the relief of the dressmaker Hotaru was finished, and the little girl hopped down from the stool she was standing on and walked over to Heero hugging him happily. She held out a pink bow hairclip to him.

"All little girls need pink bows," she said and turned around so he could put it in her hair.

Heero nodded as he pulled her hair back into a half ponytail and put the clip in. He was amazed how far Hotaru had come in only a few months. Setting the bow in, he smiled at her. One of those rare Heero smiles that few got to see.

"Go on now," Heero whispered to her, "Check on Relena for me okay?"

"Okay," Hotaru gave him a bright smile before running out the door.

Preventers, caters and servers alike moved out of the way as the pink blur rushed through hallway like a hurricane. Caters and servers shook their heads and smiled as she ran past them, and the other Preventers couldn't help but smirk. There were bets going around on how long it would take for Hotaru to up and ask if she could become a Preventer. Hotaru had nearly jumped off the walls with glee when her Daddy asked her to help protect her Mommy. To her, it would be the closest thing to being a real Preventer herself, at least until she was all grown up like her Uncles and Daddy. In the direction that Hotaru was barreling towards, Duo and Trowa stood guard outside Relena's door.

"Hey Trowa," Duo nudged the silent pilot with his elbow, "Yuy Jr. heading this way."

As if on cue Hotaru appeared in a whirlwind of pink, and lace stopping exactly in front of the two former pilots. She looked up at them, smiling at them sweetly as she smoothed out the non-existent wrinkles from her dress.

"Hotaru Yuy here!" she saluted.

Duo stared down at her, "You have been hanging around the Pre-Brats for way too long."

"That's a good thing right?" Hotaru grinned back.

Trowa smirked at her as he opened the door for Hotaru. He would never admit it; there was something utterly adorable about Hotaru trying to help with security. Most people would argue that having a little girl would cause trouble, but Hotaru was very well behaved for a small child, so it wasn't going to be a problem. At least that's what they all thought….

It was three hours into the celebrations and Heero had a feeling Hotaru was going to get into trouble very soon. It wasn't that she was getting bored of the proceedings, or that she was getting antsy. No, it was the fact that it had become well known that Relena was helping to look after Hotaru. The fact was that reporters were allowed to the event. The fact, that some were annoying and getting on everyone's nerves. The fact, that to top off Hotaru's degrading nerves, Dorothy Catalonia insisted on meeting this 'dear sweet child'.

Now it all honesty Dorothy wasn't a bad person, really. She helped Relena promote her idea of peace. Dorothy also had something to do with the civilian standoff against Mairemaia's army. Dorothy also, during one crisis tried to play matchmaker, so she was quite human. The problem that Heero had with Dorothy could be traced back to their meeting. When Dorothy actually had seen war as a thing of beauty. Some might have thought that Relena's brief period of following him (which actually she had only done once or twice) was creepy. Dorothy's obsession over the pilots in his and Quatre's initial visit to the Sank Kingdom was down right freaky. All because they were able to fight, and because they fought in a war did Dorothy want to see them. His other problem with her came from the fact she also had stabbed Quatre in the shoulder. Now he couldn't speak for Quatre, but for him and the other pilots they hadn't quite forgiven her for that one. On another completely random note in Heero's mind, he was also pretty sure that kids Hotaru's age would find Dorothy's eyebrows a tad on the scary side. All in all, Heero was sure that Hotaru's meeting with Dorothy would go horribly wrong. Though he wasn't quite sure how…

Hotaru looked up at the lady with scary eyebrows, she was sure the lady wasn't at all a bad lady, but she was scary, and smiling did not help at all. Still, she had to say hello to the lady, because her daddy told her to say hello to the lady. Even though her daddy had this sour look on his face.

"Why if it isn't little Hotaru," Dorothy cooed, "I've heard so much about you."

Hotaru put on a smile, "It's a pleasure meeting you too."

"She's so adorable Miss. Relena," Dorothy smiled at Relena who was standing behind Hotaru.

There was something sickeningly sweet about that voice, so much so that Hotaru was trying to resist the urge to kick Dorothy.

"Thank you Miss. Catalonia," Relena smiled back, "Hotaru what do you say?"

"Are those eyebrows real?" Hotaru asked before she could think.

Duo choked back the laughter threatening to bubble forth as he overheard the conversation. Hotaru stared innocently back up at Dorothy in morbid curiosity. The little girl could swear that the lady was twitching.

"Hotaru…" Heero stepped in as the role of her father.

"I'm sorry," Hotaru replied automatically, "but it was an innocent question real-"

Heero opened his mouth to reply to that comment, but a scream beat him to it. Heads turned as some sort of slimy shadowy creature came barging through the hedge bushes. It half walked on two legs, but at other times would get down at all fours. Red eyes blinked as delegates and other civilians scrambled out of the way. More animal-like than anything else it sniffed the ground as if searching for something unknown. At the same time Hotaru gripped her chest, there was something familiar about it, something that made her skin crawl. Something was not right, that thing was not right. It needed to be destroyed…

"What is that thing?" Duo asked in pure disgusted watching the thing grunt, its fangs jutting out from its bottom lip.

"Shoot first, figure it out later," Heero ordered.

Relena, calm as she always had been ushered Hotaru out of harms way, even as the guards were ushering Relena herself out of harms way. Hotaru hurried to keep up, not wanting to keep her mother out in the open for longer than needed. Yet, something caused her to stop, to look, to see its blood red eyes. Her skin crawled and she could hear a rumble of a voice in her mind.

I will make you scream 

She did not see it coming; underneath all the feelings of darkness she did not see the creature heading straight towards her. The shouts of her father and uncles did not reach the little girl's ears. It was not until the creature was upon her did Hotaru realize she was endangered.

Relena however did see the attack coming, and in that moment, her own safety no longer became an issue. To those that were forced to become mere spectators it was like a nightmare come to life. They could only watch as Relena grabbed Hotaru by the shoulders, pushing the little girl out of the line of attack. Dark shadow claws no longer had Hotaru under it, but instead Relena who attempted to twist her body to get out of the way. One of the creature's claws dug into the Peace Minister's shoulder, before passing over her. Sharp pain forced Relena to her knees, grabbing her shoulder out of reflex.

"Mommy!" Hotaru lunged at Relena, only to be held back by Trowa.

Trowa kept his arm around Hotaru, while keeping a cautious eye on the creature which snarled and gripped wondering what happened to its prey. Heero pushed Duo towards Relena ordering him to try and stop and bleeding as he pulled out his gun. Two gunshots filled the air, one bullet hitting the shoulder and harmlessly bouncing off. The second however buried itself deep into the spine of the shadow creature. It howled in a pained rage, while everyone else looked on helplessly. Trowa felt Hotaru's weight being put on his arms; for a moment he was afraid that the little girl might have passed out. Instead he saw her stare ahead at the creature with this blank look in her deep purple eyes. It was as if she was in a deep trace, and for all it seemed to her, she might as well have been. For Hotaru could not hear the yells of the other Preventers, nor the screams of the beast, nor the next three shots fired by her father, which bounced off the backside without a scratch. All she could hear was a little voice inside her mind, whispering the words a part of her longed to say to make the evil thing go away. Had anyone had been watching her face during this fight, they would have sworn to have seen a faint outline of what seemed to be a curvy 'h', or perhaps a symbolic scythe upon her forehead.

"Aim for the spine, it's the only place where the bullets don't bounce off its hide," Heero ordered.

Duo cursed as he moved to get a better shot, "What in the hell is that thing? It looked like it came out of a videogame."

"Or a bad horror movie," Wufei added.

Three more shots, a screaming howl before the tell-a-tale thud of a body falling to the ground sounded throughout the deadly silent garden.

"Mommy!"

Trowa couldn't hold Hotaru back, caught off guard by the little girl coming back to life from her blank state so quickly. She rushed over to Duo and Relena, with tears in her eyes, more terrified for her mother than she was for her own close call. Shaky little hands made their way up to where Duo was holding a piece of cloth to the wound. Removing the cloth revealed a wound, slashed deep into the shoulder.

"I'm sorry…" Hotaru whimpered, "I'm so sorry Mommy."

"Shhh…" Relena used her good arm to hug Hotaru close, "As long as you're alright, that's all that matters."

"B-but it hurts…. It must hurt…" Hotaru lightly touch the wound, burying her face into Relena's chest.

Hotaru wanted to make it better; it was her fault for not getting out of the way in time. There had to be a way for her to make Mommy's wound better! Duo looked up at Heero and the others who had already made their way over, after making sure the thing was dead. Mysteriously enough, the body disappeared; leaving only the mess as proof it even existed at all. No one really wanted to separate the two, not after such a traumatic experience.

"Hotaru…" Heero reached out until Duo stopped him.

"Heero man… do you see what I see?"

Heero's eyes followed to where Duo was looking. Where Hotaru's fingers were touching the wound Hotaru's hand glowed a light purple. He blinked once, wondering if he was dreaming, he blinked twice, wondering if he was imagining things, he blinked three times and still could not believe it. Relena's wound was closing, as if by magic, but one thing was clear. Hotaru was the one healing Relena, even if it did defiled all laws of nature. Relena too saw it, and only when the wound was healed did she look at the little girl in her arms.

"Mommy all better?" Hotaru asked innocently, before slumping into Relena's arms.

"Hotaru? Hotaru, talk to me," Relena shook her, but Hotaru wouldn't wake.

Heero was at Relena's side in a second, "Hotaru, say something."

He checked her pulse, fear gripping him at the thought that maybe whatever she did harmed her. It was only when he could feel the steady beat of her heart under his fingers did relief washed over him.

"She's fine, just passed out," Heero said after a while.

Gently picking Hotaru up, Heero carried her back into the house. It was something out of a dream, a procession with Heero in the front and Relena, the other pilots, Noin and Milliardo flanking him. What had happened that day was anyone's guess, but one thing was for certain. The mystery that named itself Hotaru Yuy just became deeper than ever before.

Author Notes:

Uhm…. First of all I'd like to say I'm sorry for waiting what is probably now 19 or 20 months… seeing as the last person who e-mailed me about it said it was 18 months since I last updated.

To whomever threatened me back… two years ago when I was in high school about whacking me upside the head with a frying pan if I didn't post within a year. First thank you for understanding that I had work to be done, and feel free to give me that whack seeing as I'm way over a year late.

As for what happened… well, I'm not dead, I wasn't sick, but yes… school. You see, when I'm not doing this, I'm doing school work, and I get distracted easily. That and essays have taken up most of my brain cells. I'd like to thank everyone who has been very, very patience with me. For those that reminded me this existed. Will it be for certain now, I'm not sure. There will be a short intrude written and posted after Thanksgiving… err… Canadian Thanksgiving, so that is this coming Tuesday. Another chapter possibly the week after, after that it is all up in the air. Seeing as mid-terms are coming up and so is essay month from hell. Note, I am the moron who decided to major in English and minor in History, two very major writing courses. Not that I mind writing… just not essays…

Anyhow… so it looks like it is getting serious, somewhat… I rarely write serious bits of work, most of my work has been humour and pretty plotless, but we'll see where this goes.

Shadow


	17. Short Intrude

Short Intrude

Worlds away, through time and space laid another group of people, with their own troubles to deal with. Their troubles however were heavily entwined with those of Heero Yuy and his friends. For in the serene backdrop of a well kept temple were proceedings of the gravest importance. What an unusual picture to behold, for normally such senshi meetings would be followed by bickering between Rei and Usagi. Normally along would such meetings would be discussion about school and everyday life. Yet Usagi was uncharacteristically serious, and Minako, who was normally light-hearted, was unusually grim. The topic of discussion was two-fold; first, they must deal with this brutal new enemy. An enemy that was cowardly enough to attack an opponent who was harmless and surrounded by innocent bystanders. Second, they could no longer ignore the fact that Hotaru had become a dear loved one to Heero Yuy. Never in their dreams could they have imagined that Hotaru could be loved by someone more than them.

Usagi took control of the meeting for the first time, "She has gone too far, we either confront her soon, or wait till someone ends up seriously hurt or worse."

The normally air-headed girl's statement startled everyone. This was a side of Usagi people rarely (if ever) saw. Yet the attack that had injured Relena had badly shaken everyone. They looked at each other, before giving their own opinions on the next course of action.

_I don't know what I have done_

_To deserve this little one._

_There is blood on my hands,_

_That drips into the deep darkness._

_While she lives as life's light._

She had been sleeping for hours now, and Heero had not moved from her side for even a second. If it weren't for the strong, steady beating of her heart he might have feared the worse. Despite this reassuring knowledge that her heart was strong there was still a bit of fear. Never in his dreams would he or his fellow pilots believe they were blessed with such an extraordinary little girl. Though they knew she was unusually bright, they themselves were unusually bright as children. Yet no one, no one would have believed that a child could heal. Logically speaking it made no sense, it was a paradox like everything else about Hotaru. Why create a soldier that could heal? Heero wondered, did he really want to know? They had tried to dig through Hotaru's mysterious origins in hopes of finding a way to help her. If they did find out about how she was created what would be gained? What would be lost? What Heero feared above all else, was losing his little girl.

_Light shatters,_

_Like mirrors shards,_

_Reflecting all the dark,_

_Deeping fears_

_Of being lost again._

"The problem is we don't know where she is," Ami argued, "Unless she opens a big enough portal for us to detect."

"We have to try something," Haruka argued back heatedly, "Before she hurts Hotaru's family or worse yet Hotaru."

"Hotaru's family? Haruka, you cannot be really suggesting that Hotaru stays with them. What would become of Crystal Tokyo?" Setsuna asked softly.

"What would become of her family?" Michiru asked back.

What could be said? They were striving for the place they had all known as Crystal Tokyo, but was it fair to sacrifice another's happiness to do so? Hotaru had already lost so much and had been reborn more times than any other senshi alive. Would it be fair to her?

_Angels in heaven looking,_

_Talking,_

_Arguing,_

_Discussing,_

_It is this father they are judging._

"What did Sally say?" Relena asked as she quietly walked into the room.

Heero looked up, "She seems fine, just sleeping. Sally can't come up with a real good reason for what had happened. Only that, it is a side effect of being created."

"But she'll be fine, that's all that matters."

"Yes…" Heero brushed strands of hair away from Hotaru's face.

He would do anything and everything to keep Hotaru safe and sound. Even if it meant going to hell and back again. It was so strange, Heero could not place exactly when this change had come over him. When did he take the role of a father so seriously? When did this little firefly steal away his heart? What thing was for certain, he would do anything for a chance to prove, whatever higher power blessed him with Hotaru that the right choice was made. That he would be the best provider, guardian, father to this child.

_A prayer to you,_

_You, who might listen,_

_Listen to the prayer of a man:_

_Don't take my little girl away,_

_Let her stay another day._

"Setsuna," Usagi turned to the Guardian of Time, "You know best about time and space, see what can be done for Hotaru," her eyes soften, "I-I don't want anyone to be separated. I want no hearts broken."

"In the mean time we can see about this Queen," Rei said the title with some distaste in her mouth.

_We make no promises,_

_We will give no hope,_

_And yet…_

_We will try to fulfil a prayer_

_We will try to fulfil a dream._

Author's Note:

Note to Self: One, posting after Thanksgiving does not mean half an hour before the day after Thanksgiving ends. Yes, that is what I am doing, I am very bad….

Two, never ever, ever write poetry again… That really cheesy bit done in between are lines of poetry I came up with on a lark, however it made scene switching far easier and I couldn't find a good song to go with it. Ironically, the next chapter also has a lot of scene switching too; I like to do that a lot for some strange reason.

Don't mind me, I like to experiment a lot.


	18. Gentleman in Black

Pre-Brat HQ

Hotaru's condition, much to the relief of those around her was not permanent. After half a day's rest she awoke to the delight of her family, and to Hotaru's delight she found her mommy to be perfectly fine. The fear though that was there during her time sleeping however had not faded. The pilots rarely let Hotaru out of their sight, afraid she might collapse again. They had never seen anyone heal another before, and no one knew what kind of effect it would have on the human body. For days and days after the incident they continued to take Hotaru to Preventer Headquarters, as Sally ran test after test to determine if any harm was done. Test after test had shown her to be perfectly normal in everyway.

As the adults mused and worried about Hotaru's strange condition; Hotaru herself grew as one week passed and then another. By the near end of November Hotaru was the picture of a happy, healthy ten-year-old girl. Nearly everyday Heero and the others would bring Hotaru to Preventers. For a few hours every day Hotaru would be left with Sally to try to figure out what had been done to her. When her tests were done, Hotaru would wait for her fellow Pre-Brats to come after school. She still wore the leather jacket Jace first gave her, as for Jace himself. He had gotten himself a new jacket, with a bit of help from Duo of course. The Pre-Brats took Hotaru's condition in stride; to them it was kind of cool. To them, Hotaru would always be the kid of the group. So it was no surprise with that amount of acceptance from the ground that Hotaru would eventually get into trouble, as all Pre-Brats did.

The PreBrats, as far as anyone knew hung out wherever there was room. At times the 'room' was an empty hallway or even the cafeteria when it wasn't being used. In a sense the whole building was their playground, but to Hotaru it was odd that they didn't have a place to call their own. So it was no surprise really that it would be Hotaru who brought up the subject.

"Jace," Hotaru looked at up their leader.

It was a chilly November afternoon, and the kids had just finished conning sweet Uncle Quatre into giving them hot chocolate. The sight was an amusing one; five kids lounging in the hallway holding cups of steaming hot chocolate the way adults would lounge while drinking their coffee.

Jace looked back down, "What's up?"

"We always hang around in this building right?"

"Jace nodded thoughtfully, "Pretty much, our parents tend to be glued here."

"And every Preventer knows we exist right?"

"Or at least the ones warned about us," Zack grinned wolfishly.

"So why don't we have our own place? You know, just for us?"

"Uh…"

"Uhmmm…"

"Well…"

"Eh…."

The four remaining Pre-Brats looked at each other with bemusement. No one had ever asked that, nor did any of them given it much thought before. They had just accepted the fact they ran rampage in Preventers' HQ. Besides who would give them a place to stay? Half of the time they were complete pests.

"Well… truth is, we really don't have a place to stay," Jace admitted.

Dana nodded, "Yea, I mean…. The grown-ups use every part of this building at one time or another."

'Unless it's off limits," Zack added in a voice that suggested he had tried to break in at one point.

"They just let us run around," Diana said wisely, "But it is the grown-ups that own the building."

Hotaru thought about this, after all her friends were older than her, and therefore wiser. Still, Hotaru was anything but ordinary. Only a child like Hotaru could come up with something childish and yet insane at the same time.

"We could make our own HQ!" Hotaru exclaimed as if struck by inspiration.

Jace gapped, "How?"

"Where?" Dana raised a brow.

Hotaru was silent, but not deterred from her idea. She stared at the ceiling, paced and murmured thoughtfully to herself. Spinning on her heels a few times, she stopped and turned to the others with a mischievous grin on her face. Somehow Jace had the feeling Hotaru had been hanging around her Uncle Duo too long

"Easy," Hotaru girnned, "On the roof, it's not used for anything. Helicopters land on the next building over, Daddy said so."

"We need something water proof," Diana pointed out.

Hotaru replied quickly, "Metal scraps, from the repair hangers. We could… use superglue to put it together!"

"This is insane," Jace shook his head, "Those hangers are off limits."

"Well.." Dana drawled out, "It has been a while since we went into any off limit areas…"

"And if the superglue fails, there is always ductape," Zack added his sagely advice, "If all else fails use ducttape, it's the thing that keeps the whole universe together."

Everyone stared at Zack as if he had lost his mind.

"I think we were struck dumb by the stupidity of that comment," Dana commented dryly.

"Jace sighed, "Well, I'd have to admit it's better than being here doing nothing. It's chilly though so bundle up."

Hotaru's eyes lit up at the idea of Jace agreeing to the place, "So what's your orders captain?"

All eyes on Jace, the boy wondered how he always got talked into these messes. Then he remembered why; it was always fun to get into a bit of trouble now and again.

"Dana, Diana, check out the roof, Zack and I will show Hotaru the off limits areas and get the stuff."

"Yes sir!"

As Dana and Diana scrambled towards the roof, Zack put his arm around Hotaru's shoulders He always wanted a little sister to teach his tricks to. Thoughts of him and Hotaru playing all manner of pranks danced in his head. He could imagine the three of them making their way into the off limit areas with the stealth of ninjas. Between his pranking expertise, Jace's brains and Hotaru's innocent looks there was no such thing as 'off limits'. Zack daydreamed all sorts of schemes, so deep in thought was he that he didn't notice that Jace stopped walking. At least Zack didn't notice until he rammed head on into Jace, landing on his ass with a large 'thud'.

"Shh…." Jace turned around for a moment, motioning for the two of them to move back.

The trio dashed around a corner at Jace's signal, pressing his back against the wall, Jace peeked over into the other corridor. He frowned as he motioned for the others to crouch down.

"Hey, bud," Zack whispered, "What's the hold up? Some adults having to guard the place? That's normal ya know… they wouldn't have gotten suspicious unless we kept on walking."

"Yea… but it's not normal when there is no guard guarding the place," Jace pointedly replied back.

"Eh?"

Zack peeked his head around the corner to catch a glimpse of what Jace was talking about. Sure enough, there was no guard; Zack cocked his head for a moment; he heard no sound.

"Maybe the guard went on a coffee break?" Zack suggested uncertainly.

Their leader snorted, "And Yuy would have their as-arse…"

Hotaru looked up at Jace, "Maybe we should tell someone Captain?"

Zack, getting bored of just seeing nothing turned back to his friends putting his hands behind his head. Whatever he was about to say however was lost as the boy's jaw dropped to the ground in dump shock. Jace, noticing Zack's unusual silence (seeing as the boy rarely ever shut up to begin with) turned to ask what was the matter.

"Zack… what's the matter?"

"Uh… uh…. Uhm…. B-b-behind you…." Zack stared ahead past Hotaru and Jace.

"Behind me?"

"My, my, my…. They sure are recruiting them younger and younger every time," a velvety voice murmured softly behind the trio.

Jace stiffed, there was nothing malicious in the voice to speak of, but there was something about it that caused hairs on the back of his neck to rise and a chill shivering up his spine. Something in which Hotaru despite being already ten years of age seemed to be immune to; in fact she saw nothing wrong at all.

"Hello mister," Hotaru turned around to cheerfully greet the man; it was hard to be scared of a man who smiled.

Smiled indeed, Jace turned to look at the man Hotaru had greeted so cheerfully and found himself as speechless as Zack had become. Standing behind them was a tall lanky man with long black hair. Not that there was anything wrong with tall lanky men who happened to have long black hair. There was certainly nothing wrong with a man who smiled politely at a bunch of kids as if nothing was wrong. It wasn't a crime for a man who was tall and lanky to wear a long, flowing black trench coat with a matching wide brim hat and white gloves. Though Jace had to admit those gloves reminded him of surgical gloves, but it was not a crime to do so. Yet here was this tall, lanky man in a long, flowing black trench coat, looking down at them from under his wide brim hat smiling as if nothing at all was amiss. So why did Jace feel as if he was prey about to be eaten by a larger, much more dangerous predator?

"I am afraid…." The stranger continued, "That I seem to be quite lost, Preventers HQ is a very large place. Perhaps one of you three young ones could show me the way out?"

Zack and Jace were rooted to the spot, Hotaru looked up at the man curious seeing as this was suppose to be an area they weren't suppose to be in.

"We're going to die. We're going to die. We're going to die," Zack thought in a panicked state of mind.

The stranger focused on Hotaru, "Will you help me?"

"Okay," Hotaru smiled.

The boys watched dumbstruck as Hotaru innocently took the tall man's hand and walked with him to the elevator. Jace wish he could have said something, but the man had shown to be nothing more than overly polite and kind, okay so he was also scared stiffed too.

"Bye bye. It was nice meeting you Jace and Zack," the man waved as the elevator door slowly closed them.

Zack was still standing stark still with his hands frozen to his sides, "He… he knew our names."

"Which means, he probably knows Hotaru's…"

"What just happened?"

Hotaru looked curiously at the strange man, who was simply holding his hat smiling at nothing in particular. She knew she probably shouldn't be going with him, but he did need help. Not to mention Hotaru doubted she would have been given a choice otherwise.

"Is something wrong Hotaru?" the man asked kindly.

"How did you know my name?"

He smile, if possible got wider, "I overheard you and your little friends talking earlier, please pardon me for eavesdropping, but what were you three doing all the way there?"

Hotaru brighten under that question, "Oh! Well you see…."

Meanwhile Jace and Zack were arguing on their next course of action, seeing as they just met a strange (and freaky) man in a place where they weren't even suppose to be. They had gone ahead into the off-limits area to see if they could find the guard, dreading that they might find the dead body of some guard that use to greet them everyday. However, much to their surprise there was no body, or any guard for that matter.

"Maybe he really isn't such a bad guy," Zack said thoughtfully after a while, "I mean, maybe the guard just happened to be not around when we ran into him."

"And what is a guy like that doing all the way inside here?" Jace pointed out.

"So what do you want to do? Tell Mr. Yuy? What if the guy really was just lost?" Zack didn't know who he was more scared of, Heero or the strange man, "We're so screwed!" he kicked air.

At least he thought it was aiming for just air, as it happened his foot hit something with a soft 'thud'.

"Thud?" Jace thought to himself as he moved forward, with Zack behind him.

Jace was born at first as a military brat, and when the Preventers came into existent he became a Preventer brat instead. He had spent enough time in buildings similar to Preventers to know that in a place like a scrap hanger one could expect a 'clang' or even a 'thunk' if there was a crate made out of wood. A 'thud' though was an unusual sound, not one that a person would find in a hanger like this. The two boys looked around the crate, keeping themselves at a distance in case the 'thing' turned out to be dangerous. There, propped up against a large metal crate was the guard the two boys had been looking for. A young man, probably an ensign by rank was slouched against the crate, his head limping hung.

"He's dead…" the darker boy was really scared now, "He's dead… that stranger killed him."

"And Hotaru went with him," Jace added.

They paused for a moment before running back the way they came shouting, "Mr. Yuy!"

Ding

Shiny metallic doors opened slowly to reveal two occupants a mysterious man and Heero Yuy's young daughter happily skipping along side the man.

"A headquarters just for you Preventer Brats? How quaint," the man smiled softly, "I do agree, it is not at all fair that you children have not a place to call your own."

"Uh huh," Hotaru nodded, "That's why we were there, looking for stuff to built our headquarters with."

"How smart, I must admit I would have thought an older child than you would have come up with such a plan… yes… I had expected you to be much older…." He drawled out lazily.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Hotaru asked nervously.

"Why there is very few people who have not heard of Heero Yuy's genius child, so I had assumed you were older," he explained kindly.

"Oh…. Do you work here? You're not wearing a uniform, but…"

"Oh no no, you mistake me dear, I'm just a simple transporter."

"What do you transport?" Hotaru asked.

The man lifted the brim of his hat as he peered down at her, "Oh….. All sorts of things, I transport anything, no matter what it may be… or whom…."

They pasted by the front desk, where the secretary just happened to look up from her magazine to see Hotaru walk by. She did a doubt take, pulling her magazine down just so her eyes could peek over, seeing the man smile and tip his hat at her. Silently he laid a hand on Hotaru's back, and ushered her past.

"Hello Mr. Yuy? I just saw your daughter walk past the front desk with a unknown man dressed in all in black."

"Shit!" Heero slammed the phone down on the hanger, grabbing his jacket on the way out.

"Hey, Heero, what's wrong?" Duo looked up from his paperwork.

"Hotaru was since walking out with a stranger," Heero growled as he reached for the doorknob.

The doorknob was yanked out of his hand as Jace and Zack bowled into him. Duo rose, noticing that both boys seemed to be very panicked, which was weird since it was them.

"Hotaru…. Creepy…. Man…" Zack panted out.

"What do you know about this," Heero glared at the boy, angry to just be delayed.

"We found the guard to the scrap hanger between some crates, we think that the creepy man we ran into killed him," Jace explained.

"What!" Duo shouted, "What were you doing there? That's off limits, never mind, Heero you go and get Hotaru, I'll get Trowa and Wufei to check out the hanger. You two, stay here and tell me everything about this guy."

Both boys nodded wordlessly as they tried to catch their breath, making way so Heero would hurry down. So much in thought, Heero barely even notice Millardo running beside him pulling his gun out. In fact nearly all of Preventers was in frenzy as word about Hotaru and the guard spread like wildfire.

"Here we are," the man said in a sing-a-song voice as they stopped in front of a black car, "It's time to go I think…"

He couldn't see her through the glass doors; he couldn't see Hotaru in his line of sight. Heero's heartbeat quicken, as he sped up, so certain he wasn't going to see her as he burst through the door.

"Hotaru!"

It was like a dream, seeing Hotaru turned around and wave, "Daddy!"

"Are you alright? He did hurt you anywhere?" Heero got down on his knees and grabbed her by the shoulders, deathly afraid that maybe she wasn't alright.

"Of course I'm okay," Hotaru looked confused, "Who are you talking about."

"The man everyone saw you walk out with."

"Oh…. Mr. Jackal?" Hotaru smiled again, "He just left."

"He didn't do anything to you?"

"No… we just talked, he says I remind him of his dear Ginji," Hotaru answered happily.

Far away from the Preventers building, in another city, in a small café called the Honky Tonk a genki blond shivered in on his stool. The waitress who was cleaning cups looked up from her work.

A spiky brown hair man chewed the end of his cigarette, "Yo Ginji, what's the matter? Cold?"

"No… but… I feel like someone walked on my grave," Ginji scratched his head in confusion.

Heero patted Hotaru down, checking for any injuries, even though Hotaru had assured him that she was perfectly fine. Trowa silently walked up behind the two, waiting for Heero to finish his parental moment.

"Well?" Millardo inquired.

"The guard was actually just sleeping, the moron decided it was a bright idea to take a nap in between the crates, and since he was such a heavy sleeper the kids thought he was dead," Trowa replied dryly.

Millardo looked very pissed at this news, "So in other words the whole Preventers was put into a panic for nothing."

"Judging by the security cameras, probably not," Trowa shook his head, "That man gives him a bad feeling, all the same though, the ensign will be put on suspension."

"You think that'll be the last time we'll see that guy?" Heero questioned as he hugged Hotaru.

"Who knows, as far as we can tell, there is nothing missing or taken," Trowa shrugged, "But we won't know for certain until we do a full check."

"Any idea what he might have been after?"

"Your guess is as good as mine."

A Day Later

Five kids, frolic within the courtyard of Preventers HQ seeing as their respective parents were busying with yesterday's fiasco. More specifically they were playing tag, or at least they were until Dana stopped running and looked like she had swallowed a fish. Four heads turned towards the object of their friend's shock, to see that same tall, lanky man, in that same long black trench coat smiling pleasantly at them. He was standing beside what looked to be a playhouse, only bigger seeing as it went up to his shoulder and took up the majority of the clearing within the courtyard. Upon the top of the door to that playhouse read "Pre-Brat HQ".

"Hello children," the man purred, "Hotaru told me so much about you all…"

"Hey Heero," Duo nudged his friend, "I got something interesting you might want to see."

"Found anything on that man?" Heero asked taking the file.

"No, but we have got this tip that someone wanted to blackmail you by kidnapping Hotaru, so we acted on it," Quatre answered as he came into the office, "But…"

"But?" Heero raised a brow.

"But Yuy," Wufei answered gruffly, "When we got there, we had all the information to prove the guys wanted to blackmail, but the perpetrators are dead."

Heero gave them the look to keep on going.

"The weird thing is," Duo chewed the end of his braid, "All those guys had the letter J cut into their backs. We would say a serial killer go to them, but it's all too neat…"

Jace stared in surprise at the playhouse, or rather their hideaway, "Wow thanks mister."

"It is not a problem, think of it as my way of thanking Hotaru for helping me out of the building."

"Heh, thanks, maybe you aren't so creepy after all," Zack beamed.

"Zack!" Diana scolded him, "That wasn't nice."

"Oh that's okay," the man smiled, in almost a predatory way, "It is a good way to think young Zack, in fact I'd suggest you continue thinking so."

With that the mysterious man turned to leave, it was almost something out of a movie as he held his hat to his head and his trench coat billowed behind him as he left. He pulled his wide brim hat over his eyes, as if to hide the fact he seemed to be smiling at an inside joke.

"Yes… it would be for the best to keep thinking that way," he murmured to himself as he walked farther and farther away, "It will be great fun when young Hotaru is all grown up, yes… I do think so. It shall be lots of fun seeing her be all grown up, much more pleasure than what my job could have been…"

For back at the little café only known as the Honky Tonk a little plushie like figure was running around like a chicken with his head cut off, because he knew what it was like to be on the receiving side of such a man's interest.

"It can't be as simple as a playhouse," Ginji squealed waving his chibi little arms, "I mean it's Akabane! Poor little girl, Ban… we have to do something!"

"What do you make of this Threadspool?" Ban turned to an effeminate young man, "After all you're the one bringing news of this."

"I have to admit," Kazuki murmured fiddling with one of his bells, "I too am curious, for no one really knows what goes on in his head."

"Feh… true enough…" Ban muttered as he watched Ginji run in circles.

Author's Notes:

Originally this was supposed to be funny, and now it is mysterious, but I had toyed with the idea quite a bit. For those that know who these guest characters are, well I'm sure they are not going to show up again, or at least I'm sure Jackal isn't going to show up again. Actually I don't know… we'll see. For those that don't know who these characters are… well the more mystery to you. Watch the show, it's great, I don't like Jackal as a person personally, but I like him as a character to be written about. He is very strange, and he borders along many lines.

It was suppose to be a filler, though I don't think it was much of a filler. Oh well, I got to mess with Jackal without actually writing at Getbacker's story. Though the idea of doing so would greatly amuse me one day. At any rate we're getting there… slowly but surely.


	19. I'm a Little Teapot

I'm a Little Teapot

Shortly after the incident involving that mysterious man in black, the clouds rumbled in the sky. Dark and heavy with rain, they rolled through the once clear sky. Fat raindrops fell to the dry earth and rolled down the window planes where Hotaru was watching silently. After her father had found out that 'Mr. Jackal' visited the headquarters again for a second time he had quickly without word took Hotaru back home. He also sent the other Pre-Brats home and got the others to explore and inspect the 'playhouse' the children received. Until Heero was sure that this man was not going to come back or bring harm to anyone especially Hotaru; Hotaru much to her dismay was currently trapped in the Winner household whether she liked it or not. Hotaru hated to be locked away in the house because she didn't get to do anything. Heero hated to lock Hotaru away like this because she would always get less childish when she had time to think. He would much rather prefer her being innocent and child-like, even if she did tend to go off with strange men dressed in black as a result. Unfortunately, at the moment however it could not be helped, Hotaru was stuck.

"Like a princess in a tower," Hotaru thought as she curled up in her niche where the window was.

The thought actually amused Hotaru, the idea that she was like a princess who was locked up in a tower. She stretched like a cat after getting tired of watching fat raindrops roll down the window. Hotaru Yuy was bored, she had played her violin, done her homework and right now her toys were strewed across her floor as the result of her playing by herself. Right now, no one was but Duo was at home, seeing as someone had to stay behind and baby-sit her lest she get into some sort of trouble, or worse yet get kidnapped. Hotaru suddenly burst into a fit of giggles, no matter how serious she was, Hotaru was still a ten year old child, one that was a Pre-Brat and the 'niece' of Duo Maxwell. Trouble was abound when children were bored, foremost children like Hotaru. Jumping off her perch Hotaru scurried out of her room, paying little heed to the toys in her way.

"Uncle Duo!" Hotaru called out in a singsong voice.

The pitter-patter of little feet hurrying down the hallway could not be missed by Duo who was lightly dozing on the couch. Cracking one eye open, he wondered what on earth that kid could be up to. It was only a matter of time that Hotaru would become bored, sitting up and swinging his legs over the couch. Duo sat there, waiting for Hotaru, knowing her, she probably would want him to play dolls with her. Not that Duo minded, anything to keep the munchkin happy. She did seem pretty down when she couldn't go with Heero to Preventers anymore.

"Uncle Duooo," Hotaru called down as she peeked into the living room.

Duo grinned, "What's up kiddo?"

Hotaru pounced on him, hugging him and pretty much crawling all over the braided pilot. Somehow in the middle of all of this Duo and Hotaru got into a tickle fight, Duo especially tickled back fiercely after Hotaru yanked his braid. The two tumbled of f the couch; the loud thump attracted the attention of Shadow and Neo, Hotaru's beloved dogs. Dogs as a general rule grew fast, and these dogs being Labradors were large dogs to being with. Within middles the dogs, uncle and child were a mass of bodies on the floor, which was how Quatre found them when he walked in. The blond pilot could not help but smile at the image it made of a squealing child and barking dogs with a grown man pretending to be a, what seemed to be a 'tickle monster'.

"Uncle Quatre!" Hotaru shrieked into a fit of giggles, "Help me!"

Quatre strolled into the room, "Come now, off with you."

Quatre grabbed Duo by the shoulders and hauled him up. Duo who had held Hotaru by the waist lifted her up slinging her over his shoulder. She shrieked a bit more as her hair swung about. Her hair had grown a great deal over the past months since Heero had found her (longer than her unknown previous life). Though Hotaru kept whining she wanted it cut, which was interesting to him. Most little girls he knew would scream over getting it trimmed, or perhaps it was just his little nieces. After all, even in having Hotaru around for as long as they had, they still didn't know everything about raising a child at all. They never even had time to adjust to each age, only going from one age to another in a span of a few months. Still, Quatre figured as he 'rescued' Hotaru from Duo. No matter what, this little girl was a blessing.

"I thought you had to work today Uncle Quatre," Hotaru said curiously.

Quatre grinned as he held her, "Well, I figured I should be back here to make lunch, unless you want Uncle Duo to make your lunch."

"No!" Hotaru wrapped her arms around Quatre's neck as if to get away from some unknown figure.

"Hey!" Duo shouted indignity, "I'm not that bad am I?"

"Uncle Duo," Hotaru said with all seriousness, "Remember the time how you made boiled eggs and they turned out to be a bit green?"

"Heh… yea I remember, but they didn't taste bad…"

"Well, they wouldn't have if you didn't decide it was a good idea to try and season those boiled eggs," Quatre replied.

"Well, okay- so there was that-"

"And remember the time you tried to make that crème stuff?"

"But I'm not a bad cook!" Duo protested waving his arms.

Quatre nodded, "True, your only problem is your try to make things more difficult by making it fancy and then it turns bad."

"Ah…."

Duo couldn't really argue with that, it wasn't that overall he was a bad cook, but the problem was he always tried to make it more difficult than it really was. The ending result then was something of a complete mess, which was why he was banned from the kitchen to even to this day. His being banned from making the main meals might explain why it was Quatre who was home to cook. Hotaru, noticing that Duo looked defeated leaned over from Quatre's arms and kissed Duo on the cheek.

"That's okay Uncle Duo," Hotaru comforted him, "I love you anyways, and you're the only one who'll make peanut butter apples for me."

"Welll…." Duo chuckled back, "Now that you put it that way, I'll make peanut butter apples just for you okay?"

"Okay! And then later we can have a royal tea party!" Hotaru exclaimed back.

Duo looked with begging eyes over to Quatre, who only had a twinkle of mischief in his. He never minded in playing with Hotaru, it was just that Quatre was better at playing tea parties with Hotaru. Even Heero was better at playing tea parties, but then again that man could indulge Hotaru in a lot of things.

"I have to head back right after lunch," Quatre replied, "So you'll have to go to the Queen's tea party instead of me Duo."

The amusement was barely kept out of Quatre's voice, as the blond pilot turned to carry Hotaru to the kitchen Duo watched him leave. Duo could imagine Quatre chuckling to himself with his back turned, not that Duo could blame him. Nearly everyone, including Trowa had been talked into at least one tea party and Relena encouraged it by teaching Hotaru the teapot song. A song that Hotaru was in fact singing as Quatre prepared sandwiches for lunch when Duo strolled in.

"Here is my handle, here is my sprout," Hotaru sang happily mimicking the movements.

For some reason Hotaru seemed to have a fascination for tea parities and royal courts. This royal court bordered along the lines of fantasy where the royalty were the Princesses and Princes of all the planets of in the solar system. Actually in truth, the court was ruled by females, now that Duo thought about it. There were only princesses destined to be queens and only one man who would marry a future queen, who was the one ruler. Sally thought Hotaru just had a healthy belief in female power.

"Tip! Me over and pour me out!" Hotaru finished jumping up and down.

Quatre turned around with a plateful of small sandwich, "All ready! Just in time huh?"

"Yay!"

Little legs blurred as Hotaru rushed back and forth setting the table up with plates, glasses and napkins. Duo helped Quatre with the lunch, keeping themselves from tripping over the little child. Jumping on top of a chair, Hotaru waved them over. They sat down to a more or less calm manner and finished the lunch in good time. Too soon for Duo, Quatre was preparing to leave again for Prevneter's HQ.

"I already have the tea prepared," Quatre told Duo as he gathered up some papers he left in his study.

"Tea? I thought kids only pretended to use tea, not drink actual tea," Duo commented.

Quatre smiled fondly, "Well it seemed Hotaru once got into Wufei's tea and seem to be fond of it, the only thing she likes better than what Wufei drinks is green tea."

"Great…. And here I thought I could break out the soda or something," Duo was not as fond of tea as Quatre or Wufei was.

"You'll survive," Quatre grinned as he patted Duo on the back, "Good luck."

"Right…." Duo murmured sarcastically, "I'll be just fine."

"I have been just fine," Duo mocked bowed at Hotaru who was dressed up in her old Halloween costume.

"Why, that is wonderful," Hotaru replied happily, "Queen Moon will be happy to hear that, come on everyone is waiting for you to start the tea party."

Duo followed Hotaru to the 'court' where all of her dolls were set up. One for every planet (or in Queen Moon's case, the moon) set up around the main queen. Well, every planet except Saturn, that planet was reserved just for Hotaru. She always seemed to have an odd fascination with the solar system. The room had not changed a whole lot, only there was a bed instead of a crib and a small play table instead of a change table. The rocking chair was still there, but along with the rocking chair was a small, low desk with a child's computer. It was a big room to begin with (as most of Quatre's rooms were) so it didn't at all look crowded even with the extra furniture around. Not even with the building blocks towers that were arranged around the room to be 'watch towers' and 'look outs' for Hotaru's kingdom.

In the middle of the room was a low table where one would have to kneel in order to use it. Surrounding the table sitting neatly along a row was the court, complete with all the queens (and one king) that Hotaru had collected in her time growing up. Flanking her little court was the black, white and grey cats that Hotaru since she was a baby. Sitting cross-legged on the floor, Duo noticed that Quatre had even set out little cookies for Hotaru and him to munch on.

"Everyone is so glad you're here Lord Maxwell," Hotaru said in her most airy voice.

"Thank you Princess Hotaru," Duo grinned back.

She held up a teapot, "Would you like some tea?"

"Of course," Duo held out a teacup feeling a bit foolish and grateful no one was there to see him.

Tinny tiny tea leaves floated about in Duo's cup, clearly not strained, which wasn't unusual with Wufei's tea. Taking a sip of it, Duo tried to not grimace seeing as Hotaru also took a sip, but seemed to enjoy it enough. Who knew the kid liked her tea strong like Wufei and Quatre too? He sighed mentally, he was doing this for Hotaru, he had to remind himself.

"Would you like some cookies?" Hotaru help up a plate.

Duo nodded, "Thank you very much," he winked, "Mi'lady."

She giggled.

Though this wasn't really Duo's thing, he would just play along, after all kids needed to play. After all, as Quatre had reminded Duo before he left for work, a tea party only lasts as long as there was tea in the pot. Therefore speaking, she would have to end the tea party as soon as they ran out of tea. Granted, he wasn't sure what else he could do but nod his head at any dress comments Hotaru might talk about with her dolls. If he recalled correctly, little girls would talk about what kind of clothes their dolls wore and what kind of pretend 'events' or parties their dolls had gone through. At least he thought so, or at least that's what he had gotten when Quatre had played with his nieces, though he was never around when Hotaru played with Quatre. He had glimpsed Heero playing with Hotaru, but left before Heero would catch him. Duo valued his braid after all. The pale white and purple clock mounted on the wall decorated with wisteria vines, blooming with tiny flowers decorated all around. It ticked away the seconds, and minutes. Skinny hands moved tick by tick passing the minutes turning them into an hour, and then another.

Duo stared down at the empty tea cup trying to make a pattern out of the leftover tea leaves. It had been two hours since they had started and it was starting to feel like forever.

"What do you think Lord Maxwell?" Hotaru little voice piped up, "Don't you think it is better if they just open up those trade routes? After all it would improve their economy a lot."

"Yes…" Duo nodded.

Everyone knew that this child was not normal; after all she grew so fast, but never before was Duo reminded exactly how smart and unusual Hotaru was until he decided to join in on her tea party. Instead of choosing to talk about pretty dress and pretend parties, or balls or whatever normal little girls talk about Hotaru had chosen completely unusual topics and realistic ones. If Relena had really stayed on to be Queen of the Sank kingdom (though she still retained a royal title to a point) Hotaru would have completely fit in. Who knows, maybe she was trying to train herself to walk in her mother's shoes. So far in the past hour or two she had at first talked about little things like about possible boyfriends and the like, but then she began talking about those things. Trade agreements, political conflicts and hot topics which made Duo suspect that Hotaru was reading the newspaper when no one was looking. At least the current trade agreement she was talking about closely echoed the current trouble going on between two of the minor colonies. The only difference there was that she changed the names and places, and he was grateful now that he read the newspaper on a regular basis. Since it seemed like Hotaru expected him to know what was going on. What probably scared him the most was that she seemed very serious about it, and she actually knew what she was talking about compared to most university students!

"Uh oh…. We have talked for so long," Hotaru smiled, "And now all the tea and cookies are gone…"

Duo smiled, mentally relieved, "I suppose we should call it a day."

Hotaru nods, "Let's have another one soon!"

As Duo pretended to wave good bye to Hotaru, he secretly hoped that soon wouldn't be too soon. Maybe he should pawn off the next tea party on Quatre, this seemed to be more his thing. Did Quatre or Heero know about the stuff Hotaru talked about? Maybe, Duo figured that Quatre had encouraged such talk to get Hotaru to learn. After all it was kind of hard to teach a little kid about world issues without a bit of help. Then again it would have been Relena, since Relena wanted Hotaru to learn manners that she might need. He mused about this for a while as he stretched himself out on the couch. Who knew where Hotaru learned all that stuff, she probably did read the newspaper when no one was looking. Closing his eyes, Duo was sure he could trust Hotaru to keep out of trouble for at least a few minutes. Complete silence, with only the small padding of little feet and the clicking of dog claws in the hallway. That was the nice thing about looking after Hotaru was that unlike other kids he had heard of she was pretty quite and kept herself busy well enough. She never made a fuss, which was good since the others wouldn't be back till very late. Quatre, Trowa, Heero and Relena had some kind of charity ball or another to go to tonight. Wufei was going to be taking care of security that night as well, the only reason why he was not going was because they figured at least one person should stay behind to look after Hotaru. They would have gotten Millardo or Noin to go instead, but they were also needed, mainly to be at the ball to represent the Preventers with Lady Une.

"Uncle Duo," a small voice woke him.

Turning his head Duo opened his eyes to see Hotaru standing there with her dogs panting happily behind her. She was still in her princess costume and in her hands she held her special little teapot. Hotaru gave his this cute little smile that seemed to be nearly mischievous, or if one had watched too many horror movies creepy. How could one not think it was a bit creepy? No matter how many times or for how long Heero or Relena took Hotaru out to play she never tanned. Her skin never darken, it remained pale as the day Heero found her. Her dark purple hair, her wide dark eyes and dark rich purple dress only emphasised her pale skin. The fact the sun behind Duo was setting, casting is rosy glow on her painting her pale skin an orange-red colour. Her growing hair swayed a bit as Hotaru looked at Duo with a growing smile.

"Let's have a tea party."

"Uhm… Uncle Duo is kind of tired right now," Duo told her, "How about later?"

"Okay," Hotaru continued to smile and walked away.

He couldn't help but shiver a bit, that was just plain creepy, though he couldn't really put his finger on it. It was a good thing it wasn't Halloween, otherwise he would have been even more creep out. Had Duo been paying attention he would have heard Hotaru giggling from behind a wall, this was so amusing. Hotaru giggled again as she rushed off to get some cookies. Not able to go and doze off again Duo hauled himself up, figuring that getting a drink would wake him up a bit. Padding his way towards the kitchen Duo yawned, scratching his head as he reached up to grab a cup. Turning around, Duo jumped out of his skin when he found Hotaru standing right behind him holding out a plate of cookies.

"Shall we have a tea party now?"

She smiled up innocently at him, holding out what looked like to be misshapen cookies. Now off the top of Duo's head he couldn't figure out where the cookies come from, but since they looked like lumps of black gunk. The fact that the bubbles on the surface popped and collapsed making some of those 'cookies' look pox marked did not reassure Duo the least bit.

"Uhm… well, I… was actually going to get something to drink," Duo murmured.

Hotaru smiled even wider, "Oh that's okay Uncle Duo. We have tea."

"Tea? But I thought we finished the te-"

A shrieking whistle pierced the air, startling Duo as he turned to attack the intruder. The intruder, as it turned out was a kettle pot that was ready to boil over. He didn't recall putting the kettle on, especially since he wasn't fond of tea. Hotaru could have, but she was too young to be messing with the stove, Heero would freak.

"Hotaru, you didn't-" he turned to ask, only to find that she had disappeared, cookies and all, "I'm starting to regret teaching her how to sneak around," Duo muttered under his breath.

The kettle shrieked louder if possible as Duo tried to figure out where Hotaru went to, in fact it was beginning to boil over. The braided pilot had to do a double take, as it boiled over what looked to be black bubbly liquid. He stared at the kettle for a second or two before taking it off the stove, holding it out imagining that it probably smelt as bad as it looked. Well, he didn't know if it smelt bad, but he wasn't going to take the chance that it did. Pouring out the bubbly substance into the sink, hot steam rose up in a cloud as it hissed against the cool metal bottom. Chucks of something splattered upon the steel surface of the sink, and Duo didn't feel like studying them too closely, since he was trying to empty the kettle of its contents.

"Tip me over and pour me out…." Hotaru's voice sang from the top of the stairs.

"Hotaru, stay there!" Duo shouted over his shoulder as he shook the kettle of its last drops.

Dumping it into the sink he rushed towards the stairs, wiping his hands on his pants. They were black anyways; it wouldn't have matter if he wiped the black stuff on his pants. Skidding to a stop, the same marble stairs where Duo first met Hotaru loomed over him. The sun's last dying rays hitting the white marble drenched it in red colour. Hotaru was not there, only darkness where the light did not reach. Rubbing the back of his neck, Duo looked around him; he forgot how the sun tended to set nearly now that it was fall. He really wished one of the guys was there with him. Call hi ma chicken, but being alone in Quatre's house, and it was a huge ass house, was kind of creepy at night alone. Granted, he was not alone by any means, but a little girl who could make herself disappear did not help matters.

"Hotaru?" Duo called up those empty stairs.

Not a sound, nor peep that Duo could hear. Footsteps echoed in the hallway to his right, Duo whirled around scanning the room for any sign of life. His heart nearly stopped dead, there was nothing, no sound. Duo mentally kicked himself.

"Stupid, there is more than one way to get down from the first floor," he scolded himself.

The house, Quatre had explained was created not by his father but by some family member who was a tad eccentric. There were many passages in this house and the more obscured ones did not lead anywhere specific. Fun, when Duo himself wanted to play a prank on someone, not fun when he was stuck in a very large house in the dark. Again with that thought about being in the dark, Duo hit himself on the head again as he turned to switch on the lights. Lights flickered on as the hallways and the stairs brighten up, now looking less intimidating. Making his way up the stairs Duo's senses were heighten as each step he took echoed in his ears. In his mind, Duo kept telling himself it was silly, no, it was stupid to be freaked out by the mischievous nature of a little girl. He paused. A flip of the switch and the hallway leading to the bedrooms lit up.

"I'm a little teapot…"

That song again drifted through the house, only this time Duo was sure it was coming from the main floor instead from the upper floor. He rushed back, searching every room for Hotaru. This was really, really creeping him out and the sooner he found the little monster the better off he would be. Checking the clock, Duo noticed it was seven o'clock.

"Hotaru? You know kid it's dinner time, so if you come up we could have pizza or something," Duo called out.

"Short and snout…"

He poked his head into the living room, sure that this is where the kid was. Did she learn how to throw her voice or something? Somehow it wouldn't surprise Duo at all.

"Here is my handle, here is my spout…"

"Hotaru, this isn't funny anymore!"

He kicked open doors, looked back and forth as he shuffled down the hallways of the large manor. Duo swore under his breath, he was so going to ask Quatre for a smaller place when everyone got back. He was also going to ground Hotaru when he got his hands on her.

"Hear me shout…"

He got it, he knew exactly where Hotaru was, her most favourite place in the house. Dashing down one random hallway, Duo threw the doors of the library open. Stalking into the dark library Duo peered down each corridor until he made his way to the heart of the library. There sitting in the centre of the library with the curtains of the large windows thrown open. The rising moon's light slowly began to filter down upon Hotaru and the little people surrounding her.

"Tip me over and pour me out…" Hotaru sang softly as she poured a dark purple liquid into a tiny tea cup.

Moonlight danced upon her head like a strange halo. In the slight light Duo could make out the little people as the dolls of her court. All were wearing black instead of their usual colourful royal dresses. Hotaru's own dress looked more black than purple, or was it his imagination. Shadow and Neo were flanking the little court, or was it? Shadow was there, Duo was sure, but the other dog was as black as Shadow. She looked up at Duo and gave him her strange smile.

"Good evening Lord Maxwell, won't you join us for tea?" she asked so innocently.

Quatre sighed as he turned the key in the lock, letting others in. It had be an awfully long day for everyone and with people endlessly bothering Relena with pointless things. Heero looked like he was at the end of his patience, which was saying a lot since there were times he didn't have any. Wufei was grumbling about injustice and Trowa's eyes seemed to be a more tired than usual.

"Hotaru! Duo! We're home!" Relena called out.

No little feet sounded of coming towards them, and no loud annoying greeting of Duo. Where were they? Heero frowned, had Duo taken Hotaru out for dinner? He checked his watch, it was eight at night, that shouldn't' be the case. Hotaru should at least be getting ready for bed. Putting a finger to his lips, Heero motioned to the others to stay quiet. Trowa tugged Wufei's sleeve and motioned that they would take the upstairs. Heero, taking Relena's arm led the way towards the kitchen with Quatre. Most of the lights were on, which saved them from pausing. The kitchen was abandoned, with an empty mug on the counter top and an upturned kettle in the sink. Relena peered into the sink to see black/blue clumps and liquid. Quatre searched around, and saw a small box stuffed clumsily into a corner, curious, he reached out for it. Heero immediately checked the patio door for intruders that might have came from the backyard. Opening the door, his foot hit something with a soft clink. The worried pilot looked down to see one of Quatre's small china plate full of brown or black cookies. Kneeling down to take a better look, Heero found that those cookies were nothing but lumps of mud. He shrugged, seeing nothing wrong with it, he had heard of children who made mud pies before. There was nothing unusual about mud cookies.

"Found anything," Heero asked as he headed back into the kitchen.

"I think the kettle had baking soda and something that looks like black and blue water," Relena founded, wiping a bit of it up with her finger.

"It's food colouring," Quatre held up a box, "Looks like someone was playing a prank."

"Duo?" Heero thought immediately, it would be like Duo to do that while they were gone.

"Don't think so…" Trowa murmured as he and Wufei came into the kitchen, "We found Duo."

"And?" Heero raised a brow.

"More spooked than a skittish colt," Wufei supplied.

Indeed it he was, for as Trowa and Wufei searched each room one by one to see any sign of any one of the two occupants. Wufei was trying Duo's door only to find it lock. He got Trowa's attention and pointed at the door. Nodding, Trowa shuffled around in his pockets for his lock picks. It took only a minute before Trowa heard the satisfying sound of the lock clicking. Standing on each side of the door, Trowa carefully pushed open with the door. Peering around the corner, they saw Duo, huddled on his bed.

"She's scary… she's scary…"

"And that's how we found him," Wufei finished, "It looks like whatever Hotaru did, she freaked him quite out of his skin."

"Fun…" Heero rolled his eyes, "I think I know what happened," he looked over his shoulder toward the mess in the sink.

"Duo said that Hotaru was camping out in the library, but she seemed to have been terrorizing him all evening," Trowa added.

Duo was indeed right, for there, in the centre of the library, with all the lights on most importantly. Hotaru was on the phone, giggling mischievously with her dolls strewed around her, dressed in what looked like black kerchiefs. Shadow was laying down watching its mistress with boredom. Neo was trying to shake off black mud from its fur coat.

"It was excellent Zack," Hotaru giggled, "You have the most wonderful ideas. Yes… I didn't think he would be so creeped out. Am I that scary?"

Heero cleared his throat.

Hotaru looked up, "I have to go Zack, busted… Hi Daddy…"

Squatting down Heero looked into her tea cup, bringing it up to his nose, "Grape juice?"

"It seemed like a good idea at the time," Hotaru answered pitifully.

Heero shook his head and sighed, "What am I going to do?"

"Love me?"

"Go say sorry to Uncle Duo, and next time, try not scaring him too badly?"

Author's Note:

Now this is a filler, and right in time for Halloween! Granted the whole event takes place in November technically speaking, but oh well… it's scary. I swear… Hotaru would look so scary dressing as a Goth, which with her dark clothes… actually I've seen some very nice Goth clothes… she would look very pretty in them. Anyhow… moving on…

This will be the final filler before things start moving along. If I'm good it'll be done by December, however that is to trust me to keep writing and the fact I did all of this in class, while listening to my professor at the same time (meaning I have no notes for those classes whatsoever) isn't very promising. Oh and don't worry about class… its English stuff and I don't tend to write unless I really don't understand the concept. Trust me if I wasn't doing this… pen and paper… I think the last time I took that to class I had more doodles than notes. Point is though… my lecture time… well the few I have where I can pull that off is the only time I have to really and truly write. Not only did this get finished Friday, but on the weekend two essays were finished. Don't' ask me why, they thought it was a good idea to make them both due on Halloween… odd… Anyhow I have research papers, so sit tight. I'll see what I can come up with.


End file.
